The Ballad of Earth-Mewni
by Blackspiderman
Summary: A new age on Earth-Mewni has begun! Join Star, Marco, and their friends & loved ones as they explore & navigate this new world, find their purpose in it, and conquer once and for all the demons within that have been left behind thanks to the age of magic. Rated T for safety. Humor/Friendship/Romance/Angst.
1. Family Friendly

**Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**FanFiction Summary: Following "When Dimensions Cleave" and "Unforgettable Getaway," the age of magic is finally over, and a new age has begun. Join Star, Marco, and their friends & loved ones as they explore & navigate this new world, find their purpose in it, and conquer once and for all the demons within that have been left behind thanks to the age of magic.**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 1: Family Friendly**

**Episode Summary: Star struggles to cope with the idea of a new, much more affectionate group of friends & family around her, especially her mother. **

**Original Postdate: October 28, 2019**

* * *

It was another gorgeous day in the newly cleaved world. While most of the world was up and about at the early hour of 11:00 AM, there was one who wasn't: Star Butterfly herself. Nope, she was still soundly under her blankets, sawing logs on her brand new soft mattress, a small drool puddle occupying the part of the pillow she was asleep on. Having gotten used to early wake up calls and short sleep cycles as Princess of Mewni (and even _shorter_ cycles as Eclipsa's royal advisor), the idea of Star getting to sleep not just late but _super_ later in the morning seemed like a fantasy.

But no, it was happening. Why?

Because after the events that saw magic briefly return and Star lose control & throw herself into an uncontrollable rage that saw her harm herself significnatly, collectively, her entire family decided they needed to be extra vigilant in looking out for her health, not just physical health but mental & emotional health. And if that required allowing her to sleep deep into the morning every day for however long, so be it. _Nobody_ would going to object to that if it meant they'd never get a repeat of that horrific moment. But the funny part is not this game plan, but the person who pushed for it the hardest: her mother. Moon Butterfly, the former queen of Mewni, the one who rode Star hard to mold her into what she considered a "proper princess" that would let her rule the kingdom properly, the one that decided not to object to Star subjecting herself to being run ragged as a royal adviser to a woman who had no interest in the throne in the first place, was the one championing this plan to keep Star healthy & happy. And she would not let herself be denied.

Moon walked into the room holding a wooden chair. She gazed at her sleeping daughter, her face beaming with pride with a hint of sorrow on it, and walked over to the side of her bed. She set the chair down and sat in it quietly, happily keeping her focus on her. In spite of everything that had happened, she was immeasurably proud of her daughter, not just as ambassador of Mewni, but proud of her as a woman and person. And she was hellbent on ensuring that she would never hurt again, either unintentionally or not.

Out of nowhere, Moon gently caressed her daughter's hair, but unfortunately, this snapped Star right awake. She let out a scream and started panting hard, allowing her vision to align and realize her mother was there. "M-Mom?" She said, her voice groggy. "W-What's going on? What time is it?"

"It's only past 11, dear. Y-"

"ELEVEN!?" Her answer sent Star into shock, as she immediately sat up and wiped the leftover drool from her chin. "What the he-why didn't anybody wake me!?" She rushed over to her mother and gently brushed her arm. "I'm sorry, Mom, I didn't-_**WHOA**_!"

Moon didn't even give Star a chance to apologize. She stood up, picked her daughter up like she was a toddler, and hugged her in her arms, again causing Star to yelp. "You looked so peaceful. Did you sleep well?" To go from feeling guilty for badly oversleeping to being asked how she was feeling was a heel turn that Star was not prepared for. She was left completely baffled.

"What? I...I guess I did...?"

"Then that's all that matters. Come, it's time to eat." Without hesitation, Moon started walking out the door, with Star still in her arms. This entire action left Star beyond confused, as Moon carried her all the way from her room to the dining hall, and that was _not_ a short walk. But for Moon, any discomfort from doing it didn't matter. It was worth it.

When they arrived at the dining hall, Marco (with Mariposa strapped to him), River, Eclipsa, and Globgor (Meteora being held by Globgor) were surrounding a seat; in front of said seat, there was a single plate on the table with a big breakfast waiting for her. It was a giant stack of chocolate chip pancakes, freshly made. Moon carried her all the way to the seat and carefully sat her down, while Marco put a napkin around her neck to act as a bib. Eclipsa handed Star a fork and knife. "Good morning, sweetheart." She said before gently kissing her on the cheek and hugging her.

"Guys, I...don't understand." Star said nervously. "W-What's the occasion?"

"There's no occasion." Marco responded. "There doesn't have to be for something like this."

"How long have you been up?"

He shrugged. "A few hours."

"Aww, I'm sorry." Star genuinely felt guilty leaving Marco up by himself for so long. Whenever they slept together, Star wanted to ensure she was up with him no matter what the hour. Marco, however, had every intention of letting her sleep as long as she needed or wanted, just like everyone else in the room. "W-Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I figured you'd like to get a little bit of extra sleep, that's all."

"A little bit? Marco, it's almost _noon_. I didn't want to sleep that late."

"But don't you feel rested?"

She thought about it for a moment. "I guess." She lied. "But-"

"Then that's that. No harm done."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Seriously, everyone, I appreciate the thought, but...there's no way I'm gonna be able to finish all these pancakes by myself. Will you at least share them with me?"

The adults and Marco all exchanged looks with each other, then looked back at Star. It was obvious she appreciated the sentiment but felt uncomfortable accepting the entire meal by herself. They knew she would feel much better if they acquiesced, so they did. They each grabbed their own plate & utensils, and took some pancakes for themselves, but not before smothering Star with plenty of hugs and kisses, Marco especially, who didn't hesitate to lock lips with his wonderful girlfriend, much to everyone's delight. Now everyone had pretty much an equal number of pancakes, with Star having a couple of extra ones.

Now that she had been appeased, everyone started digging into their breakfast. "Mmm, these are amazing." Star commented in between bites. "Marco, did you make these?"

"Well...sorta. I mean I _did_ have a lot of help." He gestured towards the others, indicating they had a hand in helping out.

"Really?" Star was clearly amazed. "Well, whatever you guys did, it worked. These are great!"

"I must say it's been so _fascinating_ getting to expand my palette with these Earthly delicacies." River remarked. "Such a delight."

"Wait until you taste his super special cheesy nachos."

"I'll make a note for tonight." Marco quipped, getting chuckles from everyone.

"So Star, what's on your docket for today?" Eclipsa asked her.

"Going to hang with Buff Frog. Katrina's Cornball team is having their practice and I get to be honorary assistant coach for the day!"

"That's wonderful!"

"What about you guys?"

"Your father and I are just going to be tidying up the castle a bit while you're gone."

"I'm going to continue working on my book." Eclipsa jumped in.

"I'm going out to build more houses to help solve our homelessness problem." Globgor proudly declared, which got baby Meteora to applaud him.

"And Marco?" Star turned to her love.

"I...if it's alright with you I was thinking I could hang back and help your folks with the cleaning." Marco said. "I figured if, you know, you're gonna be busy with coaching and stuff, that'll take a lot of focus, and I might...you know, distract you and all."

Star smiled and blushed. "Aww, Marco..." But her smile quickly turned into a disappointed frown as she took another bite out of her pancake. Moon carefully pulled Marco closer to her.

"That's very sweet of you, hon, but...I would prefer you go with her." She admitted.

"Are you sure?"

Moon nodded. "I'd like for her to have someone to lean on if need be. And you're a much better rock than any of us."

He smiled, proud of that compliment, though his smile quickly faded when he looked back over at Star and saw her still frowning, taking only nibbles at her pancakes. He turned back to Moon and nodded. "As long as you're okay with it..."

Now it was Moon's turn to smile proudly. "You're a good boy." She said as she kissed his forehead. He returned to his girlfriend.

"A-Actually, Star, turns out my schedule's clean for the day, so I'm all yours." He declared, much to her delight.

"Huzzah!" She shouted, hugging him. "Okay, let me go get dressed and we can head out." She grabbed her plate and raced to the kitchen, cleaning it thoroughly before putting it away. She went to grab everyone else's dishes but they all stopped her.

"Sweetheart, it's okay. You go, we'll clean up." Moon stopped her, which visibly annoyed Star, something that Moon instantly picked up.

"...You...you're sure?" She hesitantly asked; Moon smiled & nodded, and Star responded with a sigh. "Alright. If you say so." She turned around and raced towards her room, quickly putting on her blue suspender dress (the one from **Curse of the Blood Moon** among other episodes), as well as her lovely Beach Day necklace - the one Marco got for her as a gift - and meeting Marco by the front door. "Kay, Diaz, I guess we're good to go."

"Hold on." He stopped her from leaving, only to then pick her up off the floor and carry her in his arms. She shouted again. "_Now_ we're good to go."

"Oh for pete's sake!" She was clearly not happy about being carried around again, but she kept quiet and let him do it anyway. She knew how good he felt when he got to make her feel like a princess. And this was while Mariposa was still strapped to him. Talk about Superman, huh?

* * *

Marco carried Star all the way out to an open field where Buff Frog and his children, including Cornball player Katrina, were waiting for them along with the rest of her Cornball team and the coach. Once they were in sight, everyone began waving happily to them, which instantly got Star to smile as she waved back.

"Hi guys!" She shouted proudly as they finally arrived and Marco set her feet down on the ground.

"Star!" Katrina exclaimed happily, jumping up and down in place before finally running up to her and giving her a hug. "You made it!"

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world!" She responded as Katrina proceeded to hug Marco as well. "Are you sure you guys want me here, though? I don't know _anything_ about the game, and...well, I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Is okay." Buff Frog assured her, taking her shoulder. "Don't think of you as "assistant," think of you as...guest of honor."

Naturally, Star was confused. "Guest of honor?" Buff Frog turned her attention to the sidelines, where next to the bench was an extremely soft & comfortable, colorful chair waiting for her, containing a snack holder holding a glass of lemonade and a bag of corn pellets, and a sign above the chair that read "Star Butterfly" in big letters. She was now even more confused. "I don't understand."

"Us monsters never properly thanked you for all you did to help us. Small gestures like this...is least we can do." Buff Frog explained.

Despite being visibly uncomfortable with such a gesture, she was still touched. "Aww, Buff Frog...you didn't have to do this. R-Really, I'm fine. I don't mind helping out."

"And you will. But today, you sit and enjoy." Buff Frog picked Star up and carried her all the way to her special seat, sitting her down gently and patting her head. He turned to Marco. "If I knew Earth boy was to be coming I would have prepared second chair."

"Oh no, I'm fine." Marco said quickly. "No worries."

"Are you sure you don't want _this_ seat?" Star asked, hoping for some - **_any_** \- way to get out of this special treatment. Marco proudly shook his head and kissed her cheek.

"Nope, you just enjoy." He, Buff Frog, and the rest of his children took their seats on the bench and watched as Katrina's team began their practice.

As the practice went on, Katrina's team had an opportunity to show just how talented they were. They had come a long way since the first ever monster-mewman integrated game of Cornball several months earlier. Buff Frog was quite the supportive dad, as were his other children. Even Marco was getting himself into the fun, as was baby Mariposa, which overwhelmed Buff Frog with joy. But Star? She was not. She sat in her chair almost completely silently, crunched up in an almost-sitting fetal position, head resting somberly on her knees and arms. She was barely paying attention to the field. And despite her remaining near totally silent, Buff Frog and Marco picked up on it and expressed concern to each other.

"Is Young Butterfly okay?" A simple question that Buff Frog asked him. Unfortunately, a simple question with a not-so-simple answer.

"I...don't know." Marco admitted to him. He leaned closer to Star. "Star, you alright? What's up?"

She moved her head just enough for her eyes to lock on to the boy, but she merely gave off a meek shrug. "You guys want to split my corn pellets?" She calmly asked them. "I'm not really in the mood, but thanks anyway Buff Frog." Neither dared to reach for the pellets. Marco scooched closer to Star and gently wrapped an arm around her, trying to bring her in for a hug. But she was too wrapped up in the dark clouds that were surrounding her head to notice at first. But after some more time passed she finally darted her eyes in his direction. "Marco would you _please_ switch seats with me?"

The quiver in her voice had him worried now, but he decided to honor her request, standing himself and her up and taking her seat. She gave off a nice smile. "Better?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Better." And then she proceeded to sit on the ground right next to Buff Frog, as opposed to on the bench. Her behavior utterly befuddled him and also left him a little more than worried about her. With no prompting, he picked her off the ground and sat her in his lap, letting her rest her head against his torso. Though she hated this, she was in no state of mind to object.

Eventually the time came for the team to take a water break. There was a water machine and cups on the other side of the bench, and all of the teammates took to taking some water. Except for Katrina, who instead went to check on Star. She too had noticed her somber demeanor. "Are you okay?"

Star looked at Katrina for a brief moment before looking away, almost as if she was ashamed of her demeanor, ashamed that she wasn't able to perk herself up to enjoy Katrina's practice. "I...think I should go." She squirmed her way out of Buff Frog's grip and started dusting herself off. "Thanks for inviting me, guys. Really." She sheepishly smiled, but it was obvious to everyone something was off. "But I don't want to be a bother."

"But you're not." Katrina argued.

"Your dad souped up that awesome chair for me, and I just feel out of place. I'm sorry." She started to walk away, but stopped when she saw Marco start to stand up. "Oh no, Marco, please stay. Don't leave because of me."

He smiled warmly, walking over to her and hugging her. "It's okay. I'm fine." He turned to Buff Frog. "Thanks for inviting us, guys. We'll see you around?"

"Thanks for coming out!" Katrina shouted joyously, waving them goodbye. Her smile hid a face wrought with concern, just like Buff Frog. With that, Star & Marco departed, hand in hand.

* * *

With their obligation for the day over, they decided to take a walk around Echo Creek. Star couldn't bring herself to look up at where she was going, so Marco had to do all of the navigating. For hi, it was nowhere near as concerning as Star's demeanor. Eventually they came across a park bench and sat down for a moment of rest. "Star...what's wrong?" He asked her, hugging the somber girl.

She finally looked up at his beautiful brown eyes and kissed him. "I'm sorry, Marco. I don't mean to be such a bummer today."

"What's bothering you? You can tell me."

She shrugged. "I _would_ tell you...if I had an answer for you."

"You've been a bit weird all day..."

"You noticed, huh?" While Star was trying to talk, Mariposa reached her arms out towards Star. Marco unstrapped her from him and gave her to Star to hug, which absolutely delighted the little baby.

"Well, I know you freaked out over sleeping in so late, then you insisted we all share the big breakfast we all made you. And now there was that silly chair..." Again, she shrugged, this time looking away from him. "Are you just not feeling well?"

"I...maybe?"

"Do you want to head to my house? We can just chill for the rest of the day, play with Mariposa, eat foods that are bad for us, and maybe...you know..." He winked at her, which got her to blush. It was the first genuine smile she had on her face all day.

"Well _that_ sounds like fun." They stood up and embraced. "You know...it just occurred to me: we haven't done that in _your_ bed yet."

"Then let's fix that, shall we?"

"Did you bring any protection with you?"

And Marco's eyes went wide. "...crap."

Star giggled and pecked his cheek. "Let's go get some before we head to your place."

"Good plan."

* * *

After they rectified that situation, they headed over to Marco's place, where they were both greeted with open arms by Marco's parents, especially Star. At some point Star's folks passed the message on to Marco's folks to act as loving and affectionate to her as possible, which wasn't at all an issue for them since that's how they always treated her anyway. But this time, it was different.

While Star & Marco were planted on the couch watching TV with Mariposa, Star caught a glimpse of his parents cleaning up in the kitchen. Something inside of her compelled her to stand up and walked into the kitchen. "Um...can I help?" She said, piquing their attention. It didn't appear as though the parents were working overly hard in cleaning the kitchen, but it didn't matter to Star. She wanted to feel useful. Angie & Rafael exchanged looks.

"Sweetie, it's okay. We have it under control." Angie tried to reassure her. But Star was not having it.

"Are you sure? It's no trouble..." She walked over to Rafael and tried to ask for his broom & dust pan.

"Actually, we're pretty much done." Angie lied, putting down her equipment. "Why don't you go upstairs and relax with Marco? We'll take Mariposa."

Once again, Star was left absolutely stunned. "...you sure?" She was met with wide hugs from the two of them. They didn't hesitate to encourage her to have fun with Marco. They knew full well what he meant to her, and vise versa. In their minds, she was already their daughter-in-law, and they wanted to see her thrive. Right now, she was sputtering. "Alright. Thanks, guys." She left the kitchen uncomfortably, telling Marco the news and then giving Mariposa over to them so they could chill in Marco's room.

Once there, they both climbed into his bed and just laid there for the longest time, embracing as tightly as they could. "You okay?" Marco finally asked after such a long silence. Star's eyes peered up at his and she sighed, nuzzling her head into his chest so she could hear his heartbeat.

"...Not really." She finally admitted.

"What's the matter?"

She was not looking forward to confronting the truth, but it was inevitable. "I...eveyone's been super affectionate to me today."

"I know, isn't it great?" Marco saw it as an absolute win for Star, and he couldn't be happier for her there. Star, however, did not share that sentiment.

"Is it, though?" Her question surprised him.

"But...how could it _not_ be?"

Before she spoke again, she gently kissed him on the lips and kept her lips there for a solid minute. It was half-passionate love, half-stalling. But eventually she had to come up for air. "I have to be honest, I...don't know how I feel about it. I mean, I guess I'm just so used to my mom being cold and distant since she had to focus on Mewni and everything. But then this morning she comes into my room and picks me up like I'm still a toddler and _carries_ me all the way to the breakfast table."

"I know, it was _adorable_." Marco gushed, which got a hearty laugh from Star, though that laugh and her smile quickly faded.

"I still can't believe she let me sleep so late."

"Let you? She was joking with me this morning that you were gonna be in a world of trouble if she caught you awake early." He chuckled. She did not follow suit; in fact, the look on her face indicated she was visibly scared at the idea of being in trouble with her mother. "She...she didn't mean anything by it, just that she was _happy_ that you slept for so long."

"...really?" It was still a difficult idea for her to accept. "Let me ask you something: do you think...do you think my family and friends think I'm fragile?"

He gently caressed her hair and leaned in for another kiss. This one went on for quite some time, even getting a bit handsy. "I think everyone's worried about you. What happened...what you _did_...it's still pretty fresh in their minds and I think they're just doing what they think will help prevent another incident like it."

She nodded softly, agreeing with the logic even if she disliked it. "I'm sure their hearts are in the right place. But...I don't know, I guess I just feel like I should be doing more."

"What do you mean 'doing more?' Star you don't have to _do_ anything to earn their love. Did they...ever make you think-"

"No, no, no, they never said or implied anything like it. They've always loved me. I just..." She sighed loudly. How could she conquer her demons if she couldn't even understand what they were? "I don't know. I'm just not comfortable with this affection, is all."

"Well we're not going back to how it was before, if that's what you're asking. That's not acceptable, not anymore." His voice was stern, almost angry with this sentence. The hint of anger in his voice caught her off guard.

"Maybe I'll learn to enjoy it. I...I'm just not used to it, is all."

"You deserve it, though." He argued. "Every single ounce of extra love. You deserve it and then some."

Despite her reservations, she smiled at him. "You're so sweet." They kissed again. "You know...I'm excited."

"Hmm? For what?"

"Getting to...you know, christen this bed, if you know what I mean."

His smile grew wider and he blushed madly. "Are you sure you're up for it right now? You don't _have_ to-"

"I _want_ to, Marco. Really. I don't mind extra affection from _you_. It's everyone else I'm struggling with. But I like getting to do this with you."

"Me too. But then again I get tingly just by doing _anything_ with you." The girl kissed his cheek and nuzzled her cheek against his. "Just give me a sec." He jumped out of the bed and went to his closet, taking out the protection he bought _and_ a tie. He walked over to the door with the tie.

"What's that for?" She naturally asked.

"Oh, this? Well Earth has this tradition where couples who are..." He cleared his throat. "_Busy_...put a tie on the door knob to let everyone else in the house know."

Star studied his explanation for a brief moment before a light bulb went off in her brain. "Ohhh so _that's_ what that means for you guys. Huh."

So they both carefully stripped themselves down and climbed back under the blankets together, preparing to let nature take its course. "I love you so much, Star."

"I love you too, Marco." She giggled, preparing for the fun to start. "I still can't believe our folks are just totally okay with us doing this."

"I guess they trust us. I mean, it's not like they have a reason not to, right?"

"That's true. It's...it's like a dream come true. And the fact that we can do this _all the time_ if we want to? What could be better?"

"I sure can't think of anything."

"Me neither." She took his face and prepared to kiss him. "Now come and take me, Diaz."

"As you wish, Butterfly."

* * *

Marco and his family were invited to dinner at the Butterfly Castle, prepared by the hand of Star herself. Despite her family's objection, she insisted on handling dinner preparations herself. Unlike events earlier in the day where she felt she _had_ to, she wanted to do this. She was eager to show off her newly acquired cooking skills. And on the menu tonight? Well, to celebrate the new integration of her Mewni home and her Earth home, she decided to do something special, something that would combine traditions from both the Butterfly family _and_ the Diaz family.

Her solution? Turkey burgers with corn pellets cooked into the buns _and_ the turkey meat. One for everyone at the table: Marco, his parents, Eclipsa, Globgor, Tom, Moon, River, and of course Star herself. "Ta da! Patented Star Butterfly Turkey Burgers baked with delicious sizzling corn pellets! Dinner is served!" Star announced proudly, her face beaming with pride. The others applauded her, eagerly anticipating a delicious meal. "Thank you."

Moon reached for her turkey burger and took a small bite, savoring every chew. Of course she liked it. "Oh my, this is wonderful." She said after swallowing.

"I guess I outdid myself, huh?"

Moon unhesitatingly got up and went over to her, picking her up and hugging her, planting a kiss on her cheek. "We're all very proud of you, sweetie. You've grown up so much."

And once again, Star was incredibly uncomfortable with this added affection. And this time Moon became aware of said discomfort as Star took her time returning the hug. "Thanks, Mom." She said less than enthusiastically.

"Are you alright?" Moon put her daughter down and looked at her, concern palpable on her face. Star struggled to keep her eyes locked on her mother's, and she began rubbing her arm unconsciously again.

"Yeah, yeah, totally. I'm fine. I...just need to wash up. I'll be right back." She quickly darted out of the dining room, heading up the staircase towards the hallway bathroom. Once there, she splashed her face several times with warm water, trying to get her own stress levels down. She stared at her own reflection in the mirror, saying nothing, not moving a muscle. Internally, her blood was boiling. Her veins were tightening. Why? Why was her mind choosing _now_ to betray her. "Come on, Star, don't don't this." She said to her reflection. "Don't be stupid. Your friends love you. Your family loves you. You have the sweetest, cutest, most caring boyfriend you could ever dream of..." She looked away from the mirror briefly. "They're just trying to show you how much you mean to them. They want you to be safe & healthy. You're overreacting."

"_**I like to think of it as you're under-reacting.**_"

The blood-curtailing deep bellow of that voice instantly drew Star's attention. Her head slowly turned back to the movie. The reflection in the mirror had changed dramatically; Reflection Star's dress had gone to a gray top with a black bottom, her devil horns were pointier and a much darker shade of red, and her heart marks had returned, though now black in color. Reflection Star's skin had also gone completely pale, and she began laughing a blood-curtailing, vicious laugh (**think Mark Hamill's Joker voice for the voice here**). "What did you say?"

The reflection shook its head and tsk'ed at her. "_**Star Butterfly...look at you. What happened to that woman who yearned for independence? The one who said she didn't need a hero?" **_Its mocking tone gnawed at her skin.

"I _don't_ need a hero. But you know what? There's nothing wrong with having a shoulder to lean on when you're down." Star snarled back at the mirror. "I just wish I had realized that sooner."

"_**What makes you think he even wants to be your shoulder?"**_ Her mind was most definitely playing tricks on her. "_**What if he's just pacifying you until he decides you're no longer useful to him**_?"

She shook her head violently. "N-No, Marco wouldn't do that. I _know_ he loves me with all of his heart. We've made love, like, twenty times already. He wouldn't do that if it wasn't real!"

"_**And what about your family? Hmm?**_" The reflection contorted its body and face all around as it spoke, mocking her every move and word. "_**Do you really think they're pulling all of this out of love?! You're a fool if you believe that."**_

"And how am I a fool?"

"_**You can't teach an old dog new tricks. They're not doing this out of love. You think these people - your mother, the former queen - actually love you? Don't delude yourself. They're doing it because they're going to want something from you."**_

Star raised an eyebrow. At this point she wasn't even questioning why she was even hallucinating at all. "How do you figure?"

"_**Don't tell me you've forgotten. This new world you're in...**your** fault. All of the magic of your old world...no longer around. That's **your** burden. They're going to want you to navigate them through this new world. **You're** going to be the one to shoulder all of it. Tell me, was it really worth it to destroy all of this?"**_ Suddenly, as if out of thin air, several figures appeared next to the reflection, all representations of past spells from the age of magic. "_**Narwhal blast...**_" A finger snap, and the floating narwhals were set ablaze. "_**Old news. Kitten bombs..."**_ The reflection clapped its hands over the floating kittens. "_**Bye bye.**_" The reflection devishly strolled over to the last figure, gently taking it into its hands and beginning to caress its cheeks. "_**Spider With a Top Hat...your self-proclaimed 'most powerful spell?'"**_

A few more strokes of Spider's face. And then...

_**CRACK!**_

The reflection violently snapped its neck and dropped it out of its arms. Star screamed out, which was loud enough to draw the attention of everyone still in the dining hall.

"_**...Gone.**_"

Star began to grind her teeth, her blood starting to boil. "Look, I _had_ to destroy the magic! If I didn't, Mina was going to destroy all of monster kind and who knows how many Mewman!? _And _the Magic High Commission would've never paid for their crimes against Mewmanity!"

"**_And just how many lives did you upend?_**"

"Don't turn it against me. _I'm_ not the one who decided that monsters were the enemy just because they were monsters! _I'm_ not the one that decided that someone wasn't worthy of the throne because their mother decided she loved a monster. Those weren't my decisions!"

"**_And yet you were the one who could decide that magic was the enemy?_**"

As each word dug into her skin more and more, Star was losing the urge to go full beast-mode on the mirror in front of her. But she couldn't have a repeat of last time. "I've dedicated my life to serving my people! My people includes mewmans _and_ monsters! I'll never apologize for doing what I thought was right, especially in the face of people that _couldn't care less_ about their own people. I am a proud, independent woman who will fight for the rights of people that can't fight for themselves! I am a proud princess who would destroy magic all over again if I had to! **I'M A BUTTERFLY, DAMMIT!"**

The reflection squinted at her and snickered. "_**...No...you're not.**_"

Oh wait, that's right. Technically, the reflection was correct. And those three words were enough to make Star nearly lose it. She clenched her fists harder than she had in a long time, her blood reaching a boiling point. What she didn't realize is that Marco and Moon were standing in the doorway, ready to intervene should Star show any signs of self-harming. Of course, Star had matured dramatically since that incident. Yes, she was seething. No, she was in no mood to punch the mirror. She turned her head to see them standing at the doorway with looks of concern shot her way. "Excuse me!" She dashed right past them and ran, making her way to the back of the castle and out the door, heading to her Rage Room.

Everyone followed her out to the garden where the shed sat. From the outside, they could only hear loud grunting noises and the sounds of things being punched. Marco carefully opened the door and peered inside; his eyes caught Star angrily wailing the inflatable doll she had bought on their vacation together, her fists clenched tightly and her teeth grinding. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight, but better this than punching glass again. Several minutes of unrelenting flying fists before Star finally took the inflatable doll and body slammed in on the ground, screaming so loudly that it genuinely shocked the others. That body slam was enough to drain Star of her anger and her energy, as she just stood there panting hard for a moment after the fact. Sweat was visible on her face even from Marco's distance.

She sat down on the ground carefully next to the doll and rested her head on her knees, still panting. It was only after closing her eyes for a moment and then reopening them did her mind calm down and let her realize that everyone was there, openly worried about her. She then stood up, dusted herself off, and raced right into Marco's arms, embracing him as tightly as she could. Everyone behind Marco quickly joined in the hug. No one said anything. No one dared to complain about the hug lasting too long. This was not the time for that.

Only after everyone pulled away did Marco finally find the words to speak. "Are you okay?"

Star immediately shook her head. "...No." She admitted before going up to her folks and embracing them as well. "Guys...I'm really sorry..."

"For what?" River asked. A reasonable question.

"For being so weird about today."

The others exchanged looks before speaking up again. "Did we do something wrong-" Moon started to speak before being cut off.

"No, Mom, it's not _you_. It's _me._" She sighed and looked away, unable to face them. She was internally prepared for any backlash she was about to get for what she was going to say. "I know you're just trying to protect me, and I know you guys mean well. It's just that...everything about today's been...really weird. I mean, first you guys let me sleep in so late. Then Mom picked me up out of bed like I was a little kid and carried me all the way to breakfast, a-and you guys made me a delicious feast. And then Buff Frog had me as a "guest of honor" and I got this cute little chair with a cup holder and snacks, and then-" Star's voice started to trail as the incoherent blubbering took over. Moon embraced her, stroking her hair and kissing her forehead.

"We thought you would like all of that."

"Well...that's part of the problem. I _did_ like it." She finally admitted. "It was nice. I felt...I felt like a little kid again that got all of their parents' undivided attention."

Everyone, including Moon, smiled, beaming at the thought of her liking the love they were showing. But Moon's smile slowly gave away to a confused frown. "That's wonderful. But then why are you upset?"

"Because...I didn't _do_ anything to deserve any of it."

Once again, confused glances were traded. "What are you talking about?" Marco intervened.

"Thank about it. I haven't done _anything_ since we got back from our vacation. I've just been a lazy sack of manure lounging away mooching off of everyone."

Marco put a hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "You're doing it again."

She sighed loudly. "...I know."

"We've been back barely a week. There hasn't been anything major for us to need to do yet."

"We _do_ have a community service gathering coming up, however, that you could join us for." Eclipsa said.

"There is?"

"Yes. Globby's been recruited to help build a new integrated playground, and we're all going to pitch in to help build it. You're welcome to join us."

Star's eyes lit up. "That sounds great! I'd love to help!"

"Wonderful! It'll be so much fun. And not to worry, we'll all be there to make sure you don't hurt yourself."

And then her eyes fell. She knew they probably meant well, but boy did those words cut deep. "You guys all think I'm fragile, don't you?"

Eclipsa hadn't considered the ramifications of her words, and she immediately felt guilty. Not to worry, Marco was again here to the rescue.

"They're just worried about you." He reassured her, embracing her. "You...did a lot on Mewni and you overworked yourself a lot. They just don't want any of that to happen again."

Star nodded, almost in a surrender. The logic made too much sense, but her brain would not accept it. Along the way Moon knelled down and also hugged her, which Star happily returned.

"Everything we did today..." She began. "We did out of love. We were more than happy to do it and we're more than happy to do it again."

Now the girl had to fight back more tears. "But I haven't _done_ anything to earn it."

Moon smiled proudly. "Yes you did. You've been an incredible princess and ambassador of the former kingdom of Mewni. You bore the burden of so many unaccounted crimes against our people and monster kind that should have **never** been your burden to carry. I'm so proud of you, sweetheart."

"...But Mom-"

"And even if none of that were true, I'm your mother. I have **_no right _**to **_ever_** make you think you have to earn my affection."

For whatever reason, this sentence completely stunned Star. It was like she was mentally unable to comprehend the significance of this statement. "...Y...You mean I _don't_ have to?" And _that_ statement completely stunned Moon, as well as everyone around her. "Because...I-I'm willing to work for it. Honest." Everyone grouped in and hugged Star tighter than she had ever been hugged before. The long silence let Star reflect on her word choices, and something inside of her must've clicked for her to realize she was being silly. "I'm really glad I start therapy soon."

"So am I." Marco admitted.

"I'm sorry, everyone."

"Hey, do you...do you think it would be okay if...?"

"If you all came with me to my first session?" Star finished; he nodded quietly. "Of course. I think...I think deep down we _all_ need help. Maybe this is the way we can finally move forward."

Moon stood up and put herself in position to pick Star up again, unapologetically ready to carry her back to the dinner table. "Let's go finish dinner."

* * *

Later that night, Star & Marco were up in Star's room, laying in bed and cuddling each other. It was quite the day, and both were relieved it was nearing an end. "Hey..." Star spoke softly. "I love you."

Marco kissed her gently. "Love you too. How're you holding up?"

She shrugged. "I'm hanging in there, I guess. I feel really silly, though."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because...I _know_ that everyone is just looking out for me. They want to protect me _and_ show me how much they love me. And I appreciate it, I do. I just feel like I should be doing _more_ to deserve it."

"But your Mom's right. You don't have to ever _work_ for their love. It's unconditional."

"Yeah, I'm still trying to accept that..." She nuzzled her head against his chest, allowing his heartbeat to calm her down again. "I wish I could just not feel weird about them showing me affection. They're...not going to stop anytime soon, are they?"

"Probably not. I guess they just want to make up for lost time."

"I suppose." She couldn't help but notice the extra gentle touch of his hand against her hair and her shoulder. "You're so gentle."

He kissed the top of her head in response, stalling to find the right words to speak. "You remember when I said I wish I could be very small so I could fit into your pocket?" She looked up at him and nodded. "Well...sometimes I wish _you_ could be very small. So I could fit you into mine, a-and whenever you're feeling down or sad I could just take you out and hold you and...and make you smile again."

Every time he gushed about wanting to make her happy, her heart skipped a beat. It was the sweetest thing. "You're such a sweetheart, Marco." She could feel a tear swelling in her eye. "But you don't have to try that hard to make me happy. Just being you is more than enough."

He gently lifted her chin and kissed her. "Same for you. Thanks."

She smiled and returned another kiss to him. "Hey, could I ask for a favor?"

"Of course."

She took a deep breath. "From now on, if you wake up before I do, could you just...stay with me? You know, lie in bed next to me and just _be_ there?"

It was a simple request. One that Marco was very happy to respect, but also one that made him scratch his head a bit. "Sure. I-I'm sorry, I d-"

"No, it's okay. I'm not upset, I know what you were trying to do. But honestly? I just need you with me. I'll try not to keep you up by yourself too long, it's j-" He cut off her rambling with another kiss.

"Star, you don't have to justify anything. Of course I'll stay with you, you just sleep as long as you want."

A soft smile crossed her face again. "Thanks. Besides, I would've thought you'd want to get your rocks off to me snoring like a lumberjack and drooling on this pillow for hours on end."

And back to the teasing. His face lit up a bright shade of red. "You are _never_ going to let me forget that, are you?"

She proudly shook her head. "Nope."

"Why must you tease me for that?"

"Why is that such a turn-on for you?"

He rolled his eyes so much they almost went into the back of his head. "Touché."

"Okay but seriously though, _why_?" Marco meekly shrugged his shoulders as they both laughed it off. "That reminds me, I'm _totally_ going to start taking naps before we make love _just_ to get you going."

"Oh god, we are such dorks."

"Yes we are." She hugged him and gave him another kiss. "But you're _my_ dork."

"And you're mine."

Yes, they were both dorks. But they owned their dorkiness and reveled in it. Nothing could take that away. And so they kissed once more before preparing themselves for their nightly excursion. If today proved anything, it was that Star & her loved ones had an incredibly bumpy road ahead of them. But they were all ready to face it together, no matter what they had to do or how long it took to finally move forward with their lives.

**End of Episode 1.**

**Welcome, one and all, to the fourth fic in my post-Cleaved timeline. This one will be very much episodic, in a similar vein to my "The New Adventures of Phineas and Ferb" series that I wrote many years ago. Disclaimer: I do _not_ recommend reading that story because, well, that was from a very different time in my life and frankly I'm not very proud of most of the crap I wrote for that series. I'm hoping to do much better with this one. No timetable for updates, so just be on the lookout for it. Also, work on "Beautiful Christmas" is continuing, and while that story is technically a part of "Ballad of Earth-Mewni," it is a separate entry because it's longer and I'm writing it differently than I am this series. So there you go.**

**As always, please read & review!**


	2. Raw Retribution (Part 1)

**Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 2: Raw Retribution Part 1**

**Episode Summary: Star's first therapy session arrives, and with it comes the harsh confrontation of many uncomfortable parts of the past for her and her loved ones.**

**Original Postdate: November 29, 2019**

* * *

5:15 AM. Nowhere close to an acceptable wake-up time for Star. And she had no intention of it if she could help it. Unfortunately, her brain had other plans, as she found herself engaged in another crippling nightmare. Tossing and turning endlessly for several minutes, sweating profusely from her forehead, audible groans coming from her that slowly morphed into pained crying & screaming. Tears started forming in her tightly shut eyes. Eventually it finally became too much, and she shot herself up with a loud scream, eyes wide open, panting like she had just run a 10K. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and gave herself a moment to cool down, her head spinning & her vision blurry from the sudden awakening.

"You too?"

The meek voice right beside her caught her completely off guard. It was Marco, also completely awake, lying right beside her. He looked like he hadn't been asleep for a while either. "...Marco?" Immediately her head jumped to concern for her love, and she wasted no time returning to a laying position and embracing him.

"Bad dream, huh?"

She nodded. "...You too?"

He nodded back. "Yeah. Happened an hour ago, I...haven't really slept since."

"I'm sorry." She answered with a kiss on his lips. "Do you...want to talk about it?"

He gave it some thought before shrugging. "I don't really even remember everything that happened. Just...just that I was crying a-and we were fighting..." Just that was enough to make her tighten her embrace on him and smother him with more kisses. The idea of her ever having a fight with Marco on anything - even if it was incredibly trivial - horrified her. They both tried so damn hard to treat the other like royalty every chance they got.

"I'm sorry, Marco."

"Sorry? For what?"

"Whatever I did in your dream to make us start fighting."

"Don't say that. I don't remember anything about what it was or what started it. It might've been _me_. It doesn't matter, anyway. I don't like to think about us fighting or not getting along or crying or...I'm already scared enough of hurting you by accident. I could never imagine hurting you on purpose."

"Me neither. But that's not going to happen,_ ever._ I know it. You treat me like the queen I don't deserve to be and I'm doing my damnedest to get over these humps that keep getting in my way. Nothing is going to happen to us. I love you too much to hurt you."

"I know you do, Star. I love you too." They kissed once more. "Do you want to talk about _your_ dream?"

"...maybe later? I'd really just like to go back to sleep for a while." She snuggled in close to him, resting her head against his chest and allowing the sound of his heartbeat to sooth her frayed nerves. Her deep relaxing breaths surrounded the two of them. "This is nice..."

"Hey Star...can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"...why my heartbeat?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. "Hmm?"

"Why does my heartbeat calm you down so much? It worked on Mewni when we were fighting Mina, and now almost every time we cuddle you have to have your ear over my heart. I'm not judging, I'm just curious."

Star calmly shrugged. "I guess it's just my reminder that you're still here with me...I've almost lost you so many times and I'm just terrified of it happening again."

"But you're not going to lose me."

"I don't just mean like 'You'll be hurt or worse' either. I mean that you'll..." She sighed, unwilling to commit to speaking the next part.

"I'm not going to leave you. Ever. That's a promise."

She reached up to kiss him. "I know. I'm being silly. I just love you so much."

"And I love you. And you're going to get through this, I promise."

She nodded. "I know..." Which was followed by a loud yawn. "Dangit, what time even is it?"

"It's a quarter past five."

"A.M!?" She bellowed, taking a look over at her alarm clock and realizing the time. She was utterly dumbfounded. "Oh yeah, no, I am _definitely_ going back to sleep." She again nuzzled her head against his chest. "I'm sure that'll be fun for _you_, right? Sawing logs and waterfalls and all that." Marco rolled his eyes and laughed. "You know I'm just teasing you, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Good. Just because I tease you about this doesn't mean I'm judging you. I love you for _you_, never forget that."

"I love you too. Exactly for you." He gently kissed the top of her head and tightened his embrace. "Goodnight Star."

"Night Marco..." And they both drifted off back to sleep. They were going to rest up for as long as they possibly could today. Because come the afternoon, Star had the most important appointment of her life.

* * *

Yes, today was finally Star's first therapy session. It was a day Star & her loved ones were both eagerly anticipating & heavily dreading. For them, it was seen as the first day in not just Star but all of them moving forward from the age of magic, but they all knew it would mean having to dig up some uncomfortable truths about their time in that age, truths that they may not be ready to confront. All of these thoughts and more were circling in Star's head as she sat in the waiting room, dressed in her signature light green squid dress and her pink jacket (& t-shirt underneath) over it. Her mother, father, Eclipsa, Globgor, Marco, & Janna were also there in support, all at Star's request.

"Thanks for coming, guys." Star said, tapping her foot impatiently while getting a shoulder rub from Marco.

"You okay?"

"Nope. My nerves are frayed and I'm not looking forward to this. I know it's for the best, but..."

"It's gonna be okay." Marco kissed her cheek, getting a smile from her. "Promise."

"We're all here for you, pumpkin." River said proudly. "You won't have to do any of this alone. We shall ravage those that are festering inside of you and the rest of us until their remains are no more!"

The sentiment was well appreciated. The articulation was not. "...you mean that metaphorically, right?" Star asked her loving father.

"...do I?"

Star rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"You know, Janna, I don't want to start anything, but...I'm kind of surprised you decided to come." Marco told her. "Don't you always say that therapy is 'a scam propagated by the corrupted health care system?"

"No, I say it's propagated by the corrupted bodies of government. They cook the books and install puppets to do the jobs of actual professionals. But I'm not here for me. I'm here for Star."

Star smiled and rested her head on Janna's shoulder. "Thanks Janna." And despite her obvious discomfort with this contact, Janna said not a word. Off on the other side of the room, a tear in the fabric of the atmosphere began to form, starting off small and then gradually going father horizontally before expanding vertically. Out from this portal stepped Tom, holding the dimension-hopping ray-gun prototype that his father had been working on. "Star!" He shouted, getting her attention. He rushed over to her.

"Tom!" And the two of them shared an embrace.

"Am I too late?"

"Nope, you're good!" She gently kissed his cheek. "I can't believe you made it. You didn't have to come, you know..."

"Of course I didn't. But I wouldn't miss this for anything. Whatever I can do to help."

Now she rested her head on _his_ shoulder. "You're an angel."

"...no, I'm a demon-"

"You know what I mean, don't ruin the moment."

Marco observed the ray-gun in Tom's hand, gently taking it for himself for closer examination. "So...it's shaped like a gun, but you _use_ it like a sword?"

Tom shrugged. "I don't get it either, man."

The door leading into the therapy room swung open, and out walked a tall, middle-aged woman. Mixed brown-gray hair tied up in a bun, reading glasses, wearing a red business outfit with a clipboard & pen in hand. "Star Butterfly? I'm ready for you." She said calmly before walking back in. Star looked around at her friends as she slowly stood up, her breathing staggered. Everyone else followed suit. Marco slowly grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it, pulling her close to him and wrapped an arm around her, which helped her get her breathing back under control. Once she was good to go, they all walked towards the door and into the office. "Don't worry, there's enough room for everyone." She said.

The room contained several couches and chairs for everyone. Everyone was able to find a seat for them, with Star making sure she got to sit next to Marco no matter what. Once everyone was situated, the woman began her work. "Star Butterfly, my name is Cassandra Cher. It's so good to finally meet you."

"You know about me?" The girl asked her.

"Of course. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't." She cleared her throat and started flipping through her pages. "Star Butterfly: once the heir to the Butterfly throne. Once deemed reckless, impulsive, irresponsible with magic. You were banished to the dimension formerly known as Earth in order to learn how to control your magic. You met your current boyfriend, Marco Diaz, and spent your time living with him and his lovely family. You returned to Mewni to stave off the homicidal plans of one...Tof...Taffy-"

"Toffee." Star interrupted. "Think _Coffee_ but with a T."

"Right, _Toffee_. And then you stayed behind on your world to help usher in a new age of peace between your people and the outside monsters."

"...Help?" Star again interrupted. "No no no no no, _**no**_**.** I didn't "help," I did pretty much _all_ of it. With just my boyfriend Marco and my ex-boyfriend-but-still-love-him-to-death Tom by my side." Star scoffed and sighed. "The monarchy wasn't really that interested in helping actually mend the broken bridges between the Mewmans and the monsters. Bridges, might I add, that were destroyed _by the mewmans and the monarchy._" There was a sliver of bitterness in her voice as her face tightened in anger.

"...I see. An-"

"And then there was the fact that those pricks that make up the Magic High Commission were exposed in a conspiracy that literally threw the entire Butterfly family tree for a loop." Star was on a roll now. There was no stopping her. "Switching out Eclipsa's half-monster child with a random peasant because they _and_ Eclipsa's royal king couldn't stomach the idea that a queen could fall in love with a monster!"

"Right, yes, b-"

"And _then_ there was that time my mother was banished to the Realm of Magic forcing _me_ to become acting queen. I was queen for _four days. FOUR DAYS! _And it was a total nightmare! I ran myself ragged trying to manage _everything_ in the kingdom, and that was _with _Eclipsa's daughter Meteora on the loose trying to destroy us. Four days! My mom did it for decades! I don't know _how_ she did it, but man!" She loudly sighed again, resting her head on Marco's shoulder. The boy responded by massaging her shoulders again and kissing her forehead.

"...Correct me if I'm wrong but that was when you decided to surrender the throne back to Eclipsa, is it not?"

Star nodded slowly. "Yep. I thought it was the right thing to do. My mom..." Star looked over at her mother. Moon smiled proudly in her daughter's direction, and Star tried to return one, but couldn't muster it out. "My mom obviously didn't like that I did that. And I get why, but...but _I_ was queen at the time. It was my call. A-And after that, I decided to stay behind and be Eclipsa's royal adviser to help her learn how to be a good queen for Mewni. It was both the best _and_ worst decision I ever made!" She groaned as if she was in physical agony. Marco ceased the shoulder rub and simply hugged her. "I don't regret doing it because, well, just look at Eclipsa's life! It's been pretty much nothing but heartbreak and hell for her. She deserved to have _something_ break her way for once. But...if I had to do it again, I wouldn't stay."

"Why do you say that?"

Star turned to Eclipsa, smiling at her before giving way to a frown. "I love granny Eclipsa. She's wonderful, she's funny, she's a great mom and an amazing wife...but my word-" Star shook her head and looked away. "Having her retake the throne and being her royal adviser was _awful._ Nothing against her, it was just she was so out of her depth and she really didn't get a chance to have any sort of learning curve like I did. She was just thrust back into it like she never left. So I started kind of taking over a lot of the duties that a normal queen would have, a-and it started putting a massive strain on me. Not just mentally, emotionally, but physically too. I was _always_ exhausted, barely sleeping. By the end of it I was just _so_ burnt out on the political game that it was such a _relief_ to finally be done with it and get to be a normal teenager again. And then there was the whole Mina thing and then me destroying magic..."

"And then magic coming back..." Marco chimed in.

"Oh yeah, _that_. Can't forget about the time I learned I apparently have rage issues."

"You injured yourself around that time, didn't you?" She inquired.

"Yup. I guess years of stuffing my feelings down "for the good of the kingdom"..." She spoke in such a mocking tone that it caught everyone in the room off guard. "...finally caught up to me. I wasn't thinking, a-and I bashed a mirror so hard my hands & arms were bleeding everywhere. It wasn't fun..."

"Tell me, Star, have you noticed any...significant changes in your behavior over the course of the...I don't know, last few weeks? Few months?"

Star looked up at She, then at Marco, then at her own mother, and then at everyone else. Each one gave off a reassuring smile, encouraging her to be forthcoming. Star looked back at Cassandra and nodded. "Oh yeah."

"Tell me about that. What started it?"

She took a deep breath, turning her vision to the floor. "I'm not sure exactly _what_ it was, but...I remember _when_. It was...it started when I had to become acting queen. I-I had to make all of these hard decisions for the good of Mewni and I was in _waaaay_ over my head. I don't know how my mom did it for so long and she did it for almost her whole life. And then I made the choice to turn the throne back to Eclipsa. I-I felt like she had been robbed of her rightful place as queen, a-and I felt like I had to be the one to give it back. The Magic High Commission sure as heck wasn't in any rush to atone for their decision to completely screw everything over, and Mom was missing, so..."

Cassandra turned to Moon. "How did you go missing?"

Moon's eyes went wide, surprised to hear that she was interested in hearing from her. "Oh, uh, it was...it was after Eclipsa and I tried to fight off Meteora in her monster form."

"And Meteora is..."

"...My daughter." Eclipsa answered, holding up the baby, who happily babbled and attempted a handwave, earning loud aww's from the group.

"And then..." Star continued. "When we found Mom and brought her back, she...she didn't want to stay. She didn't trust Eclipsa, and...and I know she thinks I made the wrong choice giving her back the throne. I don't regret doing it. I thought it was the right thing to do back then, and I still do."

"I understand you elected to stay behind and become her royal adviser. Is that true?"

"Yeah, I did. I figured, well, she deserved to have someone by her side to help get her to a place where she would be a great queen." She sighed and began rubbing her arm in discomfort, nerves clearly getting the better of her. "Mom even asked if I wanted to come along with her and Dad and just live a normal life, but..."

"Do you regret staying behind?"

She lifted her head to look at her straight in the eye. She hesitated with her answer, her mind cluttered with conflicting thoughts & emotions. "...I did the right thing, giving the throne back to her. But...if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't stay behind."

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because being Eclipsa's royal adviser was utter _hell_ for me." She looked over at Eclipsa. There was no anger on Star's voice, only reserved sadness. "She was _way_ out of her depth taking the throne, so...I ended up having to take a lot of the responsibility that came with it. I was basically queen without having the title. It was exhausting. I barely slept most of the time, I was _constantly_ on my feet, I was snippy & irritable with pretty much everyone, including my own friends, I pretty much shunned my own personal life for the cause...every single day of it was hell and I was _soooo_ glad to finally get the hell out of it after her coronation." Hearing Star recount her experience only further crushed the hearts of her loved ones. For as much suffering as she seemingly went through, she hid it very well. "I was _not_ the most pleasant person to be around during that time, and I neglected a lot of my relationships...and my friends...and I never really atoned for it-"

"Star, _stop_." Marco pleaded, embracing her and gently rubbing her neck. "You have _nothing_ to atone for."

"Marco's right." Tom joined in, rubbing her shoulder. "You did so good. We're all proud of you."

"Why!?" She shouted, causing both of them to jump back in surprise. "Marco, I up and left you on Earth after confessing my feelings to you, and then when you show back up on Mewni, I don't even have the wherewithal to address it! I left you twisting in the wind, and then I got back together with Tom just when you were realizing how you felt about me. I was a terrible communicator!"

"Back up-" Cassandra interrupted her. "_Back_ together...so you two dated previously?"

Star & Tom exchanged looks with each other, then turned their attention back to Cassandra. "Yeah, we...we did." Tom admitted. "It...didn't go well." Tom shied his view away from her, clearly embarrassed. Star, taking note of this, wrapped an arm around him.

"What _is_ your relationship like?"

Star too looked away from Cassandra. The details of her first breakup with Tom were not well known by anyone. Marco didn't know, not even Star's parents knew. The devil in the details was known only to Star and Tom. That was about to change. Star took in a deep breath and readied herself. "I met Tom a few years ago at the Bounce Lounge. We hit it off really well. I don't know, I guess we just started seeing each other more a-and before I knew it I was falling for him. We went out for about a year or so and everything was fine. But something changed along the way. I don't know what it was, but...he started changing. He became...very angry, very...possessive. It was like he was a totally different person. He had a _lot_ of anger issues he was fighting, but it felt like it was a fight he was losing. It got to the point where he and I had this massive fight because he felt like I wasn't taking his responsibility as prince of the underworld seriously. I don't even know how to explain it, but...that person that day was _not_ the Tom I fell for."

"Was there any physical abuse between you two?"

"No!" Tom shouted quickly, shaking his head. "I-I mean, no...I never hit her, but...I did come close. I don't even remember what snapped me out of it, but I was in this rage and I was going off on her and then I realized I was raising my fist and...and I just saw the terrified look on her face..." His eyes started swelling with tears. "That was the last time she even talked to me for a while."

"Yeah, I wanted _nothing_ to do with him for the longest time." She admitted, still facing away from him. "During that time, I was exiled to Earth and I met Marco and we became best friends and then I started to develop feelings for him, but I had to leave Earth when Toffee threatened to destroy the kingdom. And then I decided to stay on Mewni because I felt it was time to start taking my princess responsibilities more seriously. Long story short, Tom and I reconnected, and then Marco showed back up, a-and it just made things really complex, and I already wasn't being very attentive with him, a-and then when I became Eclipsa's royal adviser, it got worse and worse. And it wasn't just Tom I was pushing away, but Marco a-and all of my friends, a-"

A comforting hand graced her distressed shoulder, a shoulder rub following. She looked in the direction of the arm and realized it was Tom doing it, a concerned look drawn on his face. "Star, you're rambling." He brought her in for a hug, letting her cry it out into his chest.

When she came out of the hug, her eyes were red from the tears and her skin had gone a bit pale. "Point is...Tom got _better_. He matured into a better man than the one that I dumped all those years ago. He more than earned a second chance and stupid old me couldn't even be bothered to pay him the respect he deserved. That's almost _six months_ of time that he _**wasted**_ on me that I'm never going to be able to give back to him!" The anger within her began visibly boiling to the surface. "And every time I think about all that I say to myself '_WHY DIDN'T I HIT THAT DAMN MIRROR HARDER!?" _This time it was both Tom _and_ Marco who hugged her, struggling to calm her down, fearful of what her inner rage could provoke from her. "Look at me...I've turned into everything I accused Tom of being..." She sheepishly turned to Tom, in a way that suggested she was petrified of even facing him, afraid of any potential retribution he may offer. "All of this _rage_, all of this anger...I'm no better than what I said _you_ were..."

Tom immediately shook his head. "That's not true." He embraced her again. "That's not true _at all_. You were right, I was incredibly immature the first time we went out, and I was incredibly immature after we broke up. Don't tell me you forgot the Blood Moon..."

She cocked her head, clearly lost. "What?"

"Don't you remember? The whole reason I asked you to that ball in the first place was so that I could bind our souls together for all eternity. You know, the Curse of the Blood Moon and all that."

Suddenly her eyes lightened up, memories starting to trickle back in. "Oh my gosh, that's right...how could I have forgotten that?"

Star rested her head on Tom's shoulder. "Look, I'm really happy you've noticed my improvements as a person, but...we just weren't right for each other. It happens sometimes. That doesn't mean you or I did anything wrong, we just weren't the right match. You have someone _amazing_ in Marco who _adores_ you, who would give you the world if you asked him." Star slowly stared sliding on the couch until she practically lying down, her head resting on Tom's leg and her feet facing Marco, which prompted the boy to start taking her boots off in preparation for a foot rub. "Was I disappointed things didn't work out with you? Of course I was. But it worked out for you, and it's going to work out for me, too."

"She slowly lifted her head to look him in the eyes. "I guess, but...I guess that's not good enough for me. Look at us. You were right, we're going in different directions. You're becoming a strong, mature, level-headed, princely man. And me? I'm spiraling down...I'm angry, I'm immature, and I can't _stand_ myself..."

"That's not true. You have maturity beyond your years that...that really no teenager should _have_ to have. And your rage..." He stroked her hair, fearing another outburst coming. "I was always angry at the world around me, blaming others for problems that _I_ caused. But you? You're just angry at yourself, angry at problems that you _didn't_ cause, that _you_ tried so damn hard to fix by yourself." Despite her internal objections, she nodded in agreement. "I don't think we really appreciated the gravity of what was going on or the stress you were under until..."

"Your injury?" Cassandra again interrupted, which instantly got a reaction from Star as she lifted her head up further and turned her attention to her.

"You know about that too?"

"I told you, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't have this information on me."

As Star let out a loud sigh, she inexplicably looked over and saw Marco giving her a foot rub. She gave a confused stare his way, which temporarily halted him, but only temporarily. He unapologetically resumed very quickly, smiling at her. A smile and a loud sigh later, Star turned back to Cassandra. "I still don't...I still don't know what pushed me over the edge, but...yeah. One minute I was deep in my thoughts. The next I was wailing so hard on my mirror I was spilling blood everywhere & screaming my head off. A lot of things around that are...kind of a blur...I think I was having these feelings of rage & stress & self-loathing & exhaustion long before that, but me wailing on that mirror & nearly killing myself, I think that was the first time it all just came to the surface and consumed me."

"So you stuffed these feelings down "for the good of the people?" Cassandra's question helped illicit a forceful yet sullen nod from her. Moon, River, & Eclipsa all looked at each other, as if exchanging silent guilt with each other. "How did that go?"

Star shook her head. "Not well. And it isn't even just the whole 'me being Eclipsa's royal adviser' thing either. It...it goes way back..."

"It's a cultural expectation, is it not?" Cassandra waited a moment, looking intently at Star who struggled to conjure more words to speak, before turning to Moon and the others. Moon instantly recognized that it was probably her turn to speak. "Moon, is it? Tell me...about your experiences as ruler." The stressing mother took a deep breath, twiddling her thumbs. Confronting the past was not something she was emotionally prepared to do. She hid it far better than Star, but she too experienced many of the psychological wars Star was currently battling. "You took the throne prematurely, correct?"

Moon hesitated, but ultimately nodded. "My mother...the previous queen...was killed by Toffee's hand. When that happened, I was immediately ushered onto the throne, and I had to make kingdom-changing decisions on behalf of the people. I wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility! I was _way_ in over my head. But I didn't have the luxury of getting to ease into the role. I had to harden and mature, and quickly. And because of that, I fear that I've come off as very..._cold_ and _unloving_ over the years since. Especially with my lovely daughter." She stood up from where she was sitting and walked over to Star. Marco ceased his foot rub and made room for Moon to sit, where she went to caress her daughter's cheek. Star responded by trying to shuffle herself away from Moon, inching closer against Tom.

Her action did not surprise Moon, though it left her just a little bit crushed. "I know I put a _lot_ of pressure on you to measure up. It was never that I felt like you would never be able to do the job. I just wanted you to be ready in case...in case something terrible happened to me and you were thrust onto the role. I suppose that ended up happening anyway." Star sat up and wiped a tear from her eye. She struggled mightily to look Moon in the eye, preferring to keep her vision just away enough to avoid contact. "Despite my concerns for your maturity, time and time again you proved that you were more than capable of holding your own and handling the kingdom."

"Now when you say you "put a lot of pressure on her," what-"

"Oh she would call me _every_ _single day_ just to "make sure I was behaving like the queen-in-training that I was." Star spouted, the memories of said calls still clearly scratching at her nerves. "I'm sorry, Mom, but it was _obnoxious_! And it didn't help motivate me to behave. All it did was scare the wits out of me! It got so bad that I started magicing in my sleep! Couple that with my nerve-fraying fear of being shipped off to St. Olga's if I screwed up too much, and honestly I'm surprised I didn't have a nervous breakdown sooner than this!" A loud growl and she buried her face in her hands. "God I was _such_ a screw-up when I started."

Her mother didn't hesitate; she picked her hurting daughter up and hugged her, stroking her back. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart. You matured _so_ much in front of my eyes. I'm so sorry I put so much pressure on you. I swear I never realized what I was doing to you..."

Star wiped the oncoming tears from her eyes. "Don't worry, Mom. I needed a good kick in the butt to wake me up. I didn't really take my magic training that seriously...and this was despite the constant fear of being shipped off to St. Olga's if I-" Before Star could finish, Moon shushed her, stroking her back even more. The smile on her face showcase immense pride in her daughter while poorly hiding her deeply buried fears for her health & happiness.

In the aftermath of the revelation that Meteora was in fact Eclipsa's daughter & that she had been switched with peasant child Festivia _and_ that Meteora had been the one running St. Olga's all along, Moon decided to do some extra digging into the school, finding out all of its deepest, darkest secrets. All of its abusive tactics, all of its manipulative brainwashing, all of the stories about princesses having their individualities stripped of them & their psyches completed crushed. And this was _only_ what was public knowledge. One could only fathom what was still kept behind the scenes. And now, with all of this knowledge in mind, her constant threats to send Star off to that horrid place if she didn't comply served to gnaw at her. "If I knew then what I know now about _wretched, despicable_ place, I never would've entertained the idea of sending you there!"

Needless to say, Moon's response took Star completely by surprise. "...No?"

"No, Star. And I'm so sorry..."

They finally pulled apart from the hug, allowing Marco to easily resume giving Star her foot rub, which drew a smatter of aww's from the group but a discontent sigh from Star. "I can't tell you _how many_ nightmares I had about that place..."

"Well it's gone now. You'll never have to hear about it again."

"Yeah, I know. Now I just have nightmares about other stuff...you know, assuming I even sleep at all."

Marco's foot rubbing immediately slowed down. Considering he slept next to her pretty much every night since they returned from their getaway - not counting the two weeks on said getaway where they shared a bed - he knew exactly what she was referring to. The others, though? They really didn't have a clue, and they were in for quite the surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Eclipsa asked. "We all thought-"

"That I slept like a baby every night until whenever you guys decided to wake me up because I wasn't waking up on my own?" Everyone silently nodded. "Well, _some_ nights are like that. Some nights I sleep like a giant boulder. Once my eyes close I'm out for the night and sometimes I won't even wake up until past noon, _if_ I'm lucky. But other nights I just don't sleep at all. I _pretend_ to sleep because I don't want to worry any of you, but that's it. I don't understand...when Marco and I were on our getaway, I had _zero_ trouble sleeping." A slight pause as she reflected on her word choice. "Okay that's not completely true. A little hiccup here and a bad dream there, but nothing like _this_. Either I don't get _any_ sleep at all, _or_ I sleep like 14 hours out of the day. The other day I went to bed at like 10 o'clock at night. Didn't wake up until 2 o'clock the next afternoon! And what's even dumber is that I'm always _more_ tired after sleeping that much than if I just pull an all-nighter!" Star loudly groaned and collapsed onto the couch, her head right near Marco's feet. The boy instinctively began stroking her hair, again drawing approval from everyone. "What is the matter with me?"

Cassandra looked back at her clipboard, writing furiously on it. "Well we're only getting started here but from what I've seen so far, you have the classic telltale signs of several emotional & psychological issues: extreme fatigue, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, mother issues, a highly erratic sleep schedule, extreme sleep deprivation..." She looked up from her clipboard to see the utterly befuddled faces of everyone else. "What? She _did_ ask..."

**End of Episode 2.**

**Yeah I'm deciding to go ahead and make this one a two-parter for various reasons. The first being I haven't updated this story since last month and I _really_ don't want to go a full calendar month without an update. Secondly, given that my personal life is now in chaos with my grandmother's passing, I can't guarantee any consistent updates going forward, so I'll go with whatever I can do to make sure you guys are satisfied and stick around. This series really will be worth sticking around for, I can promise you that. And thirdly...well, it's my story, I can do whatever I want XD **

**As I mentioned previously, the _idea_ is to have a monthly update schedule with the story, but obviously that's not something I can guarantee. We'll see what happens. **

**As always, please read & review!**


	3. Raw Retribution (Part 2)

**Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

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**Episode 3: Raw Retribution Part 2**

**Episode Summary: Star's first therapy session reaches its climax, opening the curtain to reveal severed nerves, broken hearts, and fractured psyches that lay the groundwork for the challenges the Butterfly clan & friends face in order to move forward in the new cleaved world.**

**Original Postdate: December 29, 2019**

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A few moments of awkward silence passed, with only the sounds of Star's soft, shallow, uneven breathing filling the air. The girl had her head nearly buried into her arms and legs, trying desperately to regain her composure and not give in to hysterical sobbing. Marco was once again giving her a foot rub, which, while she greatly appreciated the gesture & the effort he put into it, made her uncomfortable, moreso with the attention it garnered and not with the act itself. Of course, she really didn't have the mindset at the moment to deal with that, not after being dealt a blow by therapist Cassandra Cher, who listed off several psychological she believed Star was suffering from, such as extreme fatigue, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, mother issues, a highly erratic sleep schedule, extreme sleep deprivation, etc. Considering the track record of hell she's had to go through in the past year and change, it felt like a mostly accurate diagnosis. And the session wasn't even over yet!

Marco, still rubbing her feet, finally broke the silence. "...you okay, Star?"

She lifted her head out from her arms & legs and glanced over at Marco, meekly shrugging. Her eyes were tired & red, and her posture was poor. "I'm sorry..." To fend off the incoming self-loathing, Marco kissed her, bringing her in close to him for maximum impact. "_Man_ you're a good kisser." She snuggled up closely against him, squishing her face against his while turning her vision back to Cassandra. "This is my boyfriend, Marco. You couldn't _ask_ for a sweeter guy. He's pretty much the poster boy for _everything_ you should want in a lover."

"How so?"

Unconsciously she rested her head on Marco's shoulder; he responded in kind with a shoulder rub. "Ever since we became friends he's been a rock for me. Whenever I need a pick-me-up or a shoulder to lean on, he's the guy. Even when I was dating Tom and kinda screwing things up for all of us there, he was still there to lean on. I just...I fell for him so hard, but when I had to go back to Mewni, I thought I'd never see him again, so I...told him how I felt. And then he came back to Mewni and I was trying to focus on being a good princess and everything just got really messy after that, and I didn't handle any of it very well. He could've gotten up and left at any time to go back to his old life and I wouldn't have had any standing to be mad, but he didn't. He stayed through _all_ of it." Allowing the dark clouds in her mind to start winning again, she turned away from Marco and Cassandra, completely ashamed of what she was spilling. "We were in the park one time a-and I overheard Tom and Marco talking, and Tom said he wouldn't be mad if Marco wanted to date me, and Marco tried to play it off like there wasn't anything there, that all of our feelings for each were entirely from the _stupid_ Blood Moon curse." The waterworks were coming again. "I never said anything at the time, but the truth is...that hurt me."

In one fell swoop one could see the life in Marco's face almost evaporating. Her words shook him, much like she described how his words that fateful day shook her. Star continued, "Thanks to my Mewni duties I pretty much had to stuff my feelings down for a long time, including...the way I felt about Marco. And I imagine he felt he had to do the same about me with _everything_ going on. So...when I heard him say that he thought all of that stuff was just the Blood Moon's fault, I felt devastated. I know he didn't mean it, and I-I know he was just trying to spare Tom's feelings _and_ mine, but...that was the first time that I realized just how badly I blew it..." She had to fight _hard_ now not to start sobbing. "I had to focus on the invasion happening on Mewni and getting back to help everyone, but I really don't know how I held it all together..."

Marco instinctively ceased the shoulder rub and went full bear hug on her. "I was trying to move on...because I thought _you_ moved on..."

"And the only reason you thought that was because I was completely crap at talking things out. And I screwed up a _lot_ of things between all of us because of that!"

"You _do_ know that communication is a two-way street, right?" Cassandra interjected.

"Oh I'm sorry," Star was getting sassy now. "Are you implying that Marco should have barged into my relationship - when he **_KNEW_** I was dating Tom and we were doing mostly well - and screw everything up just because he was realizing he had a thing for me?! No! Absolutely not!" She turned to Marco. "Maybe it wasn't the right approach but you were trying to respect what Tom and I had, and I will _never_ question you for that, nor will I let anyone else do it!" She leered back at Cassandra, clearly annoyed. "Let me make this clear: Marco Diaz is a perfect gentleman." She displayed her statement by pecking his cheek and embracing him back. "You will never meet anyone as polite, caring, considerate, and hospitable as this beautiful guy here. I am _lucky_ to have this wonderful angel in my life and I hope someday I'll be able to call him my husband."

Marco couldn't help but smile with pride as she gushed over him, the love pouring out through her speech. She continued, "This boy spoils me in ways that I don't deserve. The foot rubs, the shoulder rubs, he makes me breakfast _and_ dinner in bed...sometimes when we're walking through town he'll insist on giving me piggy back rides so I don't hurt my feet...Every time we sit at the breakfast or dinner table he'll put a pillow under my seat so I don't have to sit on a hard surface...sometimes he'll just take me out to stores and ask me to pick something out for myself for...really no reason..." More tears started falling as she recounted the ways in which Marco made her heart skip a beat. "O-or just the way he holds me and kisses me when we're together. He makes me feel _loved_, in ways that I never thought were possible. And that doesn't even include the intimacy..."

Marco's eyes shot open upon realizing what she was saying. Cassandra herself had a raised eyebrow. "...Intimacy?"

"O-Oh yeah, Marco and I, we...okay, long story short, after magic got destroyed _for real this time_, Marco pulled some strings and got to take me out of town for two weeks. It was probably the best time of my life. I got to spend two weeks alone with my best friend in the whole world. And along the way we kinda realized that...well, to put it nicely, our feelings for each other were...escalating. We wanted to make sure we understood what was happening, so we went to this seminar that taught us about puberty, the body, that sort of thing. When we came out of it, we both realized..._we wanted to go for it_. You know, we just-we HAD to know if this was something we wanted. And...it was. Our first time was..."

"It was amazing." Marco jumped in, entranced by the memory of their first intimate experience. "The words don't even exist to describe it. And to think I was afraid that I'd do something that would make her uncomfortable."

Star shook her head, turning to him. "But you didn't. You were wonderful and courteous throughout all of it. Even after I fell asleep during our first time, you were so sweet & gentle with me." Star turned back to Cassandra. "Heck, he still is, even though...even though lately I keep knocking out while we're...you know...I feel terrible about it, I don't want to give him the wrong idea."

"You're not." He assured her, gently caressing her cheek. "I promise you're not. I'll _never_ take advantage of you like that. I wouldn't dream of it."

"It's not _all_ bad, you _do_ get a front row seat to my running chainsaws & waterfall show, so that's a win for _you_, right?" Star laughed as Marco hid his face in his hoodie in embarrassment. She _loved_ teasing him about that, but it was always in good fun. "Oh yeah, so it turns out he's turned on when I snore like a lumberjack and I make puddles in my sleep. Don't ask, we don't get it either." She said to Cassandra, getting Marco to laugh with her before sharing a kiss. "I love this boy so much..." Her joyful, loving tone quickly went stern, however, turning back to Cassandra. "Before you say anything, though..."

"What on Earth do you think I would say in response to this?" Cassandra questioned.

"Please, I've watched a _lot_ of talk shows with Mr. and Mrs. Diaz. I know how this goes. You're going to say that my 'weakened mental state leaves me vulnerable for sexual manipulation,' or something to that degree. Look I know you're just doing your job, but the way I feel about Marco is pretty much the _only_ thing I'm certain of about myself at the moment, and nothing is going to take this away from me! Seriously," Without prompting, she stood up, reached into her pocket, pulled out her cellphone - in the wake of their return from their vacation, Marco bought her a brand new state-of-the-art Earth cellphone - and went over to Cassandra, pulling up a picture of her rocking her now signature "Bubble Butt" t-shirt. "I bought this t-shirt for myself. Custom made and everything. I repeat: this was _my_ doing. Why would I do this if I wasn't one hundred percent sure that this was exactly what I wanted?" She returned to her seat next to Marco, snuggling closely to him and resting her head on his shoulder. Marco wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

"And you're not concerned with...other people's opinions on this subject matter?"

"Frankly...no, I'm not. What we have is nobody else's business. How I want Marco to be with me is not for anyone else to butt into, no pun intended." She looked over at him & winked, causing him to blush. "It's okay, Marco, you can go ahead." Giving him her permission, he nodded & slowly started moving one of his hands downward, with Star shifting herself enough so that he was able to place his hand under her tush, gently squeezing it. "See, here's the thing: we all had to swallow a lot of our personal feelings in order to deal with the bigger crap going on with Mewni. We didn't really get much of a chance to hash anything out. One night after the cleaving, Marco and I were alone, a-and he just finally spilled it...his physical attraction to me. And when it came out, I saw it as this chance for him and I to start fresh. You know, be able to share anything that we wanted to with each other. We didn't have that as much when I was on Mewni full time, and he had to hold back a lot. I was pretty damn sick of that, and now I just want us to be honest with each other, no matter how uncomfortable he thinks the subject matter might be."

"She's right." Marco jumped in. "I was _sooooo_ terrified of what she might think of me when it finally came up. I-I thought she'd think I was some sort of pig that only wanted her for her looks or...or I didn't appreciate her as a friend the way she deserved-"

"And as I tell him every time, I've never thought _any_ of that about him. He's _never_ _ever_ given me a reason to think he didn't have anything but my best interests at heart. He may not have _always_ succeeded, but his heart was always in the right place. And I'm through with all of this having to swallow our feelings "for the greater good." Screw that! I want him to feel like he can tell me exactly what he's feeling, whether it's about life or about himself or about _me_. I am a no-judgement zone. This is one of the few things about myself that I'm completely, 100 percent confident in at the moment and I will _not_ let anything take it away from me _or_ from him. It's not _his_ fault everyone else decided to sleep on this beautiful tush, right?"

And Marco's eyes went big. Though Star was no slouch, Marco was easily better at picking up subtle sexual hints than she was, including the implications of her word choice. "What?" Star asked upon picking up Marco's nerves. "It's not your fault, _you_ actually decided to notice it. Everyone else just slept on - ohhhhhh _now_ I hear i-OH MARCO, IDEA! I've got an idea!" She started bouncing in her seat in excitement. "Remember those words, we've got something new we can try tonight!"

Marco began sweating profusely and blushing madly, hiding behind his hand an embarrassed but proud smile. He adored how enthusiastic she got about trying new things, even the more intimate stuff. "I love you so much."

"And I love _you_." They shared a nice kiss. "You're the _only_ thing I'm sure about right now." Her tender smile slowly faded into a somber frown as she sighed and hunched over, looking away. "With pretty much everything else, my mind feels like one giant messed up jigsaw puzzle that wants to strangle me. It's like my mind _literally_ hates me and it doesn't want me to enjoy any nice things, like when the people I love..." Star hesitated; opening up _this_ door was not something she looked forward to. Confrontation was never easy; it's worse when you're confronting _yourself_.

"Have things changed between you and your family?" Cassandra calmly asked.

Star took a deep breath and looked over at her parents, Eclipsa, & Globgor, who silently encouraged her to continue. "When...When Marco and I got back from our vacation, my folks started treating me...differently. Like _a lot_ differently."

"How so?"

"Where would I even start? Okay, so...when we were still royalty, we always had these super early wake up calls, you know, and we'd always have to be up really early to perform our royal duties. And my mom was _very_ strict with sticking to that for me. Even on the days where I didn't sleep well or sleep at all she _still_ pulled me out of bed so I'd have to do my royal duties. But now? Ever since I got back from vacation...none of that happens. She lets me sleep late, and I mean _really_ late. One day I didn't wake up until after one! As in...in the afternoon! I slept for almost 15 hours that day! I-I wasn't _trying_ to sleep that long, honest!" She was starting to again become hysterical. "A-And part of me is actually _angry_ at my mom for not getting me up because she _always_ made such a big deal about those early wake up calls and now all of a sudden she's just throwing that away!? B-But then I also feel like I'm being ungrateful because I know she means well with that, and-" She took a moment to composure herself, stopping herself from bursting into crying. "A-And then sometimes she'll take me out of bed and literally carry me to the breakfast table like I'm a toddler. I mean it's super sweet and all, really, b-but I don't know, it just feels...it all just feels weird. And everyone in Echo Creek has been like this towards me. I-It feels like they're giving me special treatment and trying to coddle me and I haven't _done_ anything to earn it!"

"Sweetheart-"

"And please don't say 'You earned it because of all your hard work as a princess." She said calmly, cutting off Moon. "That was _then_. This is _now_. What have I done _now _to deserve it? I've been pretty much benched since Marco and I came back from our getaway." She sighed again. "It's kind of pathetic, if you ask me. My mom's mother was killed by Toffee forcing her to ascend to the throne way earlier than she was supposed to, and Eclipsa & her husband were crystalized for, what, a hundred years?"

"...three hundred." Eclipsa corrected.

"_Three hundred years_! And when she was finally let out she and Globgor _still_ weren't trusted! Meanwhile all that happened to me was I had mounds of royal pressure heaped onto me _and_ I spent a year on non-stop political duty trying to keep Mewni running. What right do _I_ have to complain about anything!? I must sound like a whiny, spoiled child, don't I?" Star groaned and buried her face into her hand. Marco responded by embracing her, gently pecking her cheek and stroking her hair. "I guess I don't know what the hell I want. I didn't come home to be benched...but I also...I feel like I'm afraid to get back into the swing of things. All of the political crap I had to go through on Mewni really wore me down and drove me nuts. I guess I just feel like I owe it to everyone to be part of the new age where peace and love rule. It _is_ my fault our worlds cleaved."

Moon again went to console her daughter. "That's admirable of you, dear, but it's...it's not your fault."

She looked up at her mother, a look of bewilderment crossing her face. "Yeah it is. Marco and I were in the Realm of Magic when it-"

"It might have been you that did it, but...you never would've had to do that if _I_ hadn't screwed everything up for everyone."

"Why do you blame yourself?" Cassandra intervened. "What happened?"

Moon sighed. "It's such a long story...after they found me and brought me back home, my memories started to come back, and I learned exactly what happened while I was gone, including Star returning the throne over to Eclipsa. I came to the conclusion that...it wasn't wise for me or River to remain at the castle. Star felt...obligated to remain behind and help Eclipsa meld into the role of queen."

"And you were content with allowing that arrangement to stand? Your daughter carrying that burden?"

Moon remained silent for a solid minute, stirring around in her seat. "In hindsight, I...wish I had fought harder to have her not be a part of that, knowing...what I know now."

"Mom, we _both_ know I would've turned you down no matter how many times you asked." Star cut in.

"Maybe, but she _still_ could've offered." Marco whispered _just_ loudly enough for everyone to hear him. The disappointment and anger was evident in both his tone and his face.

"I felt that going back to the castle wouldn't benefit any of us. The only reason I ever went back was to get my daily planner, which came in handy trying to coral the straggling Mewmans that flocked to me when they didn't want to be ruled by Eclipsa. Mina was lagging behind...I believe she was in the early stages of planning to resurrect the Solarian Order. She...wanted my help, and originally I refused."

Moon's exposition got Marco's attention. And not in a good way.

"In hindsight, I should've mentioned it when I had the chance, but-"

"Hold on, hold on." Marco interrupted, ceasing his foot rub and turning his undivided attention onto Moon. "You...you knew ahead of time that Mina was planning a full blown riot on Eclipsa and the kingdom?" She hesitated, but ultimately nodded. "...how long did you know?" Again she hesitated, as she slowly realized the big error in her ways.

"...I'm not entirely certain. I think it was...a few months before her coronation-"

"**_WHAT!?_**" He shouted, standing up in a huff before catching & composing himself. "You're telling me that you knew - you _knew_ \- that something bad was going to happen thanks to Mina and you never said anything!?" The anger was coming out now. Moon stood up to defend herself.

"I wasn't queen anymore! I had no power. Eclipsa was in charge, and I trusted she could take care of-"

"I'm not talking about Eclipsa. I'm talking about _Star_!" He gestured to Star, whose face read befuddlement at hearing her boyfriend call out her mother like this. "When she was on Earth with me she accidentally turned one of my arms into this ugly squid-like arm. She spent two days working herself ragged and _not_ sleeping just to fix it! That doesn't even **_BEGIN_** to scratch the surface of what she put herself through with Eclipsa and the whole monster-mewman race relations stuff! Do you _know_ how hard it was to just have to sit back and let her wreck herself trying to make things right? It was horrible! She did the right thing _every single time_, even if she didn't always go about it in the best way. I was _so_ proud of her - I still am - but it _**KILLED**_ me having to watch her exhaust herself. She said it herself - the weeks leading up to the coronation she _barely_ slept at all, and she was a completely manic mess by the time it came around. And she did it all pretty much by herself."

Star looked over at Tom, and then at Janna. Both gave a solemn nod confirming Marco's words. Tears again began to well up in her eyes.

"I...I didn't think of any of that. I just believed she could take care of herself. She..." Moon sighed. "She didn't need me..."

"Of course Star can take care of herself, but that's not the point! You're her _mother_! Forget about the whole monarchy code or whatever! You're family! It's your job to look after your family - **_ESPECIALLY_** your children** \- **no matter what happens. I get that you didn't trust Eclipsa, fine, but you could've just told Star! For all you know, Star could've turned on her by that point. You didn't know! You couldn't have known! And you know what? If you really did trust Star to take care of herself and make the right decisions, why did you not support her more in her quest to mend the mewmans-monsters relations? Why?"

"Marco..." Star stood up carefully. "Don't make a sc-"

"Star, please, let me finish!" He said firmly but calmly before turning to River. "Did _you_ know? Did you know what Mina was planning to do?"

River sheepishly nodded.

"Why didn't you let your daughter know? Didn't you want her to be safe? How could you two do that to your own flesh and blood?"

"W-We knew that you and that demon boy were going to stick around and lend her a hand. And surely Moon Pie and I would merely get in the way."

"She always felt more comfortable and safe with you than she ever did with either of us."

Marco leered at them, the rage turning into pure heartache, tears now forming in _his_ eyes as well. "That's an excuse, and you both know it." He was failing in hiding his sadness. "What if something really bad happened to her? What if Mina had struck sooner and Star was injured by her!? What if Star exhausted herself to death working for Eclipsa? Because there were at least a few times where I thought that was actually going to happen!"

For the first time, Star was seeing a side of Marco that hadn't really come out: the angry side. The side that swore to himself that he'd always protect her no matter what. The side that wanted to lash out at anything and anyone that dared put Star in harm's way.

"Do you know how _frustrating_ it was to watch her go through everything she went through!? She worked _so_ hard to be a better princess! _So_ damn hard to fix what generations and generations of monarchies and magic wielders and the Magic High Commission fractured and broke. _She_ was the one that stepped up when nobody else could be **_bothered_**. And look what she got in return! Months upon months of vein-constricting stress, frayed nerves, exhaustion that I didn't even _know_ was possible for someone! And _what_ does she have to show for it? Absolutely nothing! I know the circumstances around it were different and terrible, but _you_ were the one who freed her in the first place all those years ago." He said to Moon. "You bought into the lie that she was evil, and then you _fled_ before you ever had to face the fact that you were _wrong_." He clenched his fists angrily and turned to Star, the look of heartbreak on his face worsening. "I know you meant well returning the throne to Eclipsa. I know you did it for the right reasons. I _know_ you just want to be a normal teenager. But _you_ deserved the throne more. More than _anyone_ in this room! Even..." He turned back to everyone else. "Even your own mother.

"And you know what hurts more than _any _of that? You wanna know what eats at me every day? It's the fact that I couldn't do a damn thing to help make it easier for her. I knew I would've been so far out of my league dealing with that political crap that I would've probably made it worse, but every day that I had to watch from afar while she struggled killed me! Sometimes I ask myself why she even wanted me around. I didn't do anything to make it easier and I spent half the time goofing around doing other stuff on Mewni! And not once did it ever dawn on me to say 'Hey maybe Star could use your help' or whatever-" And before he knew it he was devolving into nonsensical blubbering as the tears started flying out.

His outburst left everyone in the room, even Cassandra, completely bewildered. This was a side that none of them knew he had in him. The pure, unfiltered grief written on his face utterly shattered them, most especially Star, who was both brokenhearted over the pain he displayed and left in awe over his willingness to call out her own family _just_ to stand up for her. Overcome with pride & sadness, she sprinted out of her seat and tackled the boy, embracing him in the tightest hug she had ever shared with him, smothering his crying face with kisses and trying desperately to coo the boy back to a state of normalcy. The rest remained completely silent, internally reviewing the words he had just spoken.

Nobody could mistake it: the boy loved Star's family deary and had nothing but the utmost respect for them, but they understood how it was: to Marco, Star came first. Always. That was why the Butterfly family admired him so, even if it resulted in him calling them out for stuff like this. It was why Star loved him dearly. "It's okay, sweetie, it's okay..." She said softly to him repeatedly while still allowing him to sob into her shoulder and let all of the hurt out. "I love you. So much."

"I-I love you too." He managed to sputter out after a few more cries. She helped him wipe the tears away. "...I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have said any of that, I was way out of li-"

"Why didn't you ever tell me how much you were hurting?" She cut him off, kissing him again.

"What was I supposed to say? _Come_ crawling to you and whine? 'Oh Star, I'm worried about you. You're breaking your back trying to literally fix your kingdom!" She had no response. "I was proud of what you were trying to do, and the last thing I was going to do was pile on even more stress for you to deal with, especially when I already wasn't doing much to help make things easier-"

"Stop!" She shouted, shutting him up instantly. "Just stop. I told you, Marco, that's bull. I didn't need someone to bulldoze their way into the middle of the political crap I had to deal with. What I _needed_ was a shoulder to lean on when things were going wrong. And you were that shoulder every single step of the way!"

"What good does _that_ do when you're literally killing yourself trying to fix _**EVERYTHING**__!?_"

"Hey hey hey..." She patted his back and continued smothering him with kisses. "Don't think like that. Your feelings are just as valid as mine. Now and forever. I don't want you to ever feel like you can't tell me things just because _I_ might be going through some things."

"But what if that was what pushed you over the edge?" He argued. "It felt like you were always on a tightrope trying to maintain your cool. It felt like we were walking on eggshells around you. For crying out loud, you got so _mad_ over that silly 'Cornonation' thing."

"Yeah but...wait, the what?"

"You know, we were making out those invitations to Eclipsa's coronation. I-I thought it was cute and that people would find it funny, but I guess I was wrong."

Star was left completely dumbfounded, indicated by her empty space gaze. "...I thought that was just a careless typo. You're telling me you did that _on purpose_?"

"Well...yeah. You know how mewmans are with their corn, it's practically a religion with them."

"H-He's not wrong." River spoke up quickly before retreating from the conversation.

"Wow." Once again, Star was speechless. "...I don't know what to say. I-I just thought you didn't bother to quality check it...and I was _sooo_ pissed about that."

"You gave him quite the earful that day." Tom interjected. "It was _right_ before the MHC shut everything down because of Globgor's escape."

"Hey, uh..." Janna finally piped up and made herself known to the room. "If you really were gonna throw a fit over that...well, you threw it at the wrong person."

"...Wha-"

"It was my idea. We were talking one day and I brought up the whole 'obsession with corn' thing and I joked that they don't call it a 'Cornonation' was such a missed opportunity." She turned to Star's folks. "And by the way, it really was."

"You know what? She's absolutely right." River whispered to Moon.

"We just thought it'd be amusing. I guess we should've run it by you first, but we didn't think you'd burst a blood vessel over it. But that's water under the bridge now, right?"

Star didn't answer. She _had_ no answer. Her mind started to swell with the dark clouds again as she looked over at her family, then at Tom, then at Marco. Her vision blurred through her rapidly falling tears. It was such a simple moment: the typo on the invitations that turned out to be completely intentional. Something that drove Star up a wall and presented itself only as an opportunity for Eclipsa's coronation to go completely off the rails. Something so small, so meaningless, yet it caused Star so much grief. But nowhere near as much grief as she was giving herself for daring to think something like that was a problem in the first place.

Her face went pale. Her fists clenched. Her veins tightened. Now it was a down n' dirty fight to keep what little composure she had left. Marco immediately embraced her to stop the onslaught, with Janna & Tom approaching her as well & embracing her. "It's okay," Marco said as she began to growl. "It's okay, Star, honest."

"No it's not." She said through her gritted teeth. "None of it is okay. _Why_!? **_WHY _**can't I make it **_stop_**?"

"_**Because you're a screw-up, that's why.**_"

Her head shot right up, recognizing the cruel, sinister, Joker-esque voice once again. She looked over toward the wall behind Cassandra. There was a mirror hanging there; looking back at Star was a reflection of her. It was the same reflection that previously haunted her; like the last time, this reflection had the same dress Star was wearing - in today's case it was the Edgar dress - only shaded gray & black instead of its normal colors. "What did you say to me?!" Star hissed at the reflection, causing alarm among the others.

"What-" Eclipsa began to speak, but was stopped silently by Cassandra, encouraging them to simply let it play out.

"_**Your ears work fine, sweetheart."**_

"What do you _want_ from me!? Don't you think I feel lousy enough already!?"

"_**Now do you understand the damage you've caused?"  
**_

"The damage _I'VE_ caused?! Oh you are _so_ off your rocker!"

"**_Oh, I'm off my rocker?_**"

"Yeah, you heard me! You think I wanted _any_ of this? You think I want to spend every day second guessing myself, laying awake at night feeling like the walls are caving in on me!? It's not fun questioning the choices I made all the damn time! It's not fun feeling like I ruined everything! It's not fun having my friends & loved ones trying to shower me with affectionate & praise and feeling like I _don't deserve it!_" Marco gently embraced her again as the tears continued falling. She turned to reluctantly face her loved ones, all of whom nodded & encouraged her to spill her guts. "Look at me, I'm a walking contradiction."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marco asked her.

"Where would I even start?" She went over to her mother and embraced her, Moon returning the gesture instantly. "I love that you guys just want me to be healthy and happy now. T-The sleeping in late, being treated to meals in bed, the extra praise & affection...I love all of that. Or...at least I _want_ to."

"So what's stopping you?"

"Because I don't _ever_ want to feel like I'm taking anyone for granted o-or that I'm just being lazy for the sake of being lazy. That's not who I am."

"_**Yes it** **is**_!"

Star turned back to her reflection and hissed. "Shut _**UP!**_" She then turned back to the others, panting slightly.

"Star-"

"And I know what you're gonna say: I _know_ I'm being ridiculous. I'm just saying this is how I _feel_." She dug deeper into her hug with Moon. "It really sucks when you _know_ there's a problem with how you're seeing the world and you really want to change it but you just _can't_."

Her mother stroked her hair. "I know, sweetheart. I know. We're not trying to hurt you."

"I know that." She said firmly, pulling away slightly. "You really are trying to look out for me. And believe me, I'm grateful. But I don't want to be benched either."

"...Benched?"

"Yeah. You know, from all the political crap we're gonna have to deal with concerning the cleaving. Getting the humans, mewmans, and monsters to all co-exist peacefully. A-Are you sure you don't want me to help build the new playground later this summer?"

Eclipsa's face lit up, recognizing the crux of her troubles. "Oh Star, sweetie," She stood up and approached the girl. "I-I didn't mean it like-"

"I _know_ you didn't. Don't you guys understand?" She pulled away entirely, visibly shaking. "It's **_me_**! **_I'm _**the problem. There's something really wrong with me. I-I know you guys are trying to protect me. I _know_ you all think keeping me out of the hard political stuff from now is a way to "reward" me. But if you want the truth...I feel like it's a punishment." She looked down at the floor, unable to make further eye contact with them. "I feel like it's your way of saying I don't deserve to be a part of the team that helps everyone transition into the new age of peace we're trying to create. I know it's not the intent, that's just how it _feels_."

Marco approached her, entering into yet another shoulder rub. Always the modest one, he was. "We just didn't want you to have to interrupt your vacation, that's all."

She turned sharply to face him. "I'm not on vacation. Not anymore, anyway."

"Yeah you are." He smiled and winked at her, but she still wasn't getting it.

"...What? You mean Summer Vacation? But th-"

Marco sighed, interrupted her. "No, Star, I mean you're on _vacation_. What? You thought just because we came back home that was the end of that? Well, I'm happy to say you're mistaken. As far as _I'm_ concerned, you're _still_ on vacation, and I hope everyone in this room agrees." Everyone around them minus Cassandra, who was silently taking notes, nodded proudly. "See?"

Star's eyes yet again began to water. She closed them and let out a loud sigh. "Alright, I'll bite: for how long?"

"Well...how long did you work for Eclipsa? Four, five, six months? And that's not even including the months you spent before hand just trying to be plain old peacemaker-"

"Okay, stop. Stop." She started waving her hands frantically in front of her and shaking her head. "Please stop." The tears fell again. "That's a wonderful gesture, Marco." She turned to everyone else. "Really, I'm touched. But I can't accept it."

"And we can't let you turn it down." Marco responded solemnly. "I'm sorry. It just bugs me that you were robbed of _so_ much of your time having to deal with this crap." He stopped himself by covering his mouth, realizing his words had piqued a reaction from Star. "...I guess I figured maybe I..._we_...could try to give it back to you somehow."

She smiled softly, still touched at the gesture but internally uncomfortable with the implications she was conjuring in her mind. "That's so sweet. Really. But I wasn't "robbed" of any time. I _chose_ to get involved. And I don't regret doing it. Sure there's lots of stuff I would do different, maybe some different choices I'd make, and...obviously I'd take better care of myself. But I don't regret doing it. Not for a second."

The boy sighed, but smiled and kissed her cheek. "We just thought you deserved a lot more for everything you went through."

"I know. I love the thought, but...you _really_ want to keep me held down for six months?"

"At least." He stood firm in his conviction. "That's the _bare_ minimum. But if you ask me, I want us to make it last a _lot_ longer. And hey, you know, if you decide that you really like this vacation so much...you don't _have_ to come back. We'd all be okay with that."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. With a completely straight face, Marco just told her she had their full blessing to basically stay on "vacation" for as long as she wanted. And every single person in the room minus Cassandra was silently nodding in agreement with him. She was overwhelmed with emotions, sticking her arms out and begging somebody to hug her. Everyone - again, minus Cassandra - obliged. She quietly released the tears built up in her eyes as her loved ones tried desperately to calm her down and reassure her that they loved her dearly.

Finally they all parted, allowing her to come up for air. "I don't know what to say right now..."

Moon kneeled down next to her and took her hands gently. "Sweetheart...it was my idea."

"...What was?"

"...Keeping you out of the loop. I felt like you deserved a break away from the politics. And I felt like you would've been front and center leading the charge to fix up that playground-"

"And you were afraid that I might hurt myself? That I might work myself into the ground again like I did with Eclipsa?" Moon nodded, struggling to hold back her own tears. "I get it. I really do. And I appreciate the sentiment, but..."

"What?"

"I...I guess I just want to feel needed."

"By your former kingdom?"

"By...by everyone, I guess. You, the Mewmans...my friends..." She looked over at her friends, who all smiled at her with concern palpable on their faces. "I feel like I need them way more than they ever need me."

"That's not true." Tom cut in. "_Of course_ we need you. We _all_ need you."

"None of our lives would be nearly as fun without you." Marco continued. "That's the truth."

"You say that as you're openly campaigning to keep me in a bubble."

"...I'm sorry. It's not that we don't trust you, it's-"

"You want me to slow down and not hurt myself. I get it. A-And maybe I'm just not meant to be a leader..." She turned back again to Moon. "I don't think I'm very good at being a leader. At least not in the way a queen should be."

Moon hugged her daughter with a smile on her face. "You might not have the tactical capabilities of a queen, but you thrived in an area that I could never even touch."

"What's that?"

"Your emotional connections. You had such a massive following for your cause because they _wanted_ to follow you. People only followed me because they _had_ to."

"Yeah but you were always great with having to make decisions on the fly...even if they didn't always pan out. I know I could never do that...but the great thing is, we don't have to anymore. We no longer have to rely on just one or two people to help do what's best for the new world. We can _all_ have a say in it, and we can all share the load. That sounds a lot healthier than having just one person have to be in charge of everything and make decisions for everyone."

Moon chuckled. "I think you're right. But...I still don't want you to have to get too heavily involved."

"Why?"

"Because...it's not your mess to clean."

Star raised an eyebrow and pulled back slightly from Star. "What are you talking about?"

"The only reason the cleaving even happened at all is because you made a decision...a decision to try and fix a mess that _I_ caused. I genuinely believed working with Mina was the only way I could possibly prevent her from causing more harm and mayhem than she did. I thought I could control her...and I was wrong. You and Marco might have served responsibility for the cleaving, but the cleaving wouldn't have happened without my actions. That's why I don't want you to have to get involved anymore...because it shouldn't even be your burden. It should have _never_ been your burden." Moon wiped tears from her daughter's eyes and smiled, while Star struggled to not cry.

"We really need to stop killing ourselves. We're doing the best we can and we're trying to do the right thing. It's just..."

"It's easier said than done."

"Yeah...it is." She kissed her mother's cheek and looked into her eyes, realizing that there was a deeper concern that Moon was feeling at the moment. "What?"

"I can't help but think back to that day..."

"You mean the day I blasted that mirror and nearly bled out?" Again, Moon nodded. "I'm sorry I scared you guys like that. I promise...I wasn't trying to commit suicide. Honest. I just lost control. I was holding _so much_ in for so long and it just finally came out. But suicide? Nuh-uh. I can't lie, I _have_ thought about what it would be like for you guys sometimes if I just...disappeared. You know, move to another place entirely and drop out of your lives. Sometimes the voice in my head tells me you guys would be better off without me, but I'd _**never**_ kill myself. No matter how dark the clouds are right now, I know I have so much to look forward to in my life." She looked over at Marco and blew him a kiss, and he quickly returned the favor.

"Well Marco is right about one thing. You're on vacation. End of story. And I promise you things are going to be _very_ different with us."

"You mean that?" She asked; Moon nodded proudly. "So...I guess this means I can expect you to let me sleep in late _and_ carry me out of bed to the breakfast table? You know, whenever Marco _doesn't_ make me meals in bed." Again, Moon nodded before embracing her daughter once more. "I'm sorry, Mom."

"What for?"

"For...making you all worry about me this much. I promise I'll make it up to _all_ of you someday. I'll make up for everything." Again she turned to her friends. "_Everything_." And she meant it, which is _exactly_ what they were all afraid of.

"Star, honey, stop. You haven't done anything wrong."

"You don't handle stress very well, do you?" Cassandra _finally_ spoke up again, looking at Star.

"Apparently I don't. And there's been a _lot_ of it for me to deal with over the past year and change." Star turned again to Moon. "How did you do it for so long? You know...being queen? How did you deal with the constant, endless stress? Always doing the heavy lifting, always running around to keep things in order, always waking up every minute with a thumping pain in your chest..." She put her hand over her heart to signal the pain she spoke of, which immediately got everyone caught off guard, Moon especially.

"I...never had chest pains." Moon said bluntly, clearly worried. She looked over at Cassandra who silently wrote some more notes down.

"You...didn't? You mean it was just me?" She asked as she slightly winced, her hand still over her heart.

Without another moment passing, Cassandra tore a page out of her book and closed it, standing up out of her seat. "I think this is a good place to pause for now."

"Are we out of time already?" Star asked. "It feels like we barely touched on anything. I...I did most of the talking."

"Sometimes that's the right path to take." Cassandra walked over to them. "Do you feel better?"

Star remained silently for a short moment, seriously considering her response. "You know what? I do. A little bit, at least. Although my mind kinda feels frayed..."

Cassandra placed a comforting hand on Star's shoulder. "That's not abnormal. I'm very glad I got to meet you and your friends today. I'll be in touch with your folks to set up a schedule for our appointments." She gently nudged Star towards Marco. She got the message and ran over to her boyfriend, leaving Cassandra to speak with Moon. "Take her to this place as soon as possible. I want them to run tests. Tell them I sent you."

Moon briefly studied the paper and allowed each of the others to study it too. Realizing what it read, their eyes went wide, but ultimately they agreed.

"As soon you have the results you contact me _immediately_, it's very important."

"Of course. And thank you so very much for taking her in. She needs this - she _deserves _this - more than anyone."

"It's my job." Cassandra smiled and shook all of their hands before allowing them all to depart. When they all got outside, Moon explained to Star what Cassandra had told her - that they were to take her to a nearby doctor and have Star medically examined, as Cassandra developed significant concerns for Star's physical health as well as her emotional & psychological health. Everyone - even Janna - agreed to go with them.

* * *

A few uneventful days passed. Star had her medical doctor's appointment and the results...were not great. As the doctor so eloquently put it to the Butterfly family, Star had some of the worst tests results he had ever seen on someone Star's age: elevated stress levels through the roof...of a skyscraper, elevated blood pressure, Irregular Sleep, extreme sleep deprivation, extreme fatigue, etcetera. And that's on top of the signs of Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder, Anxiety, and Depression that Cassandra Cher had already diagnosed her with. But there was one other piece to the puzzle that was discovered, one that put everyone, Star included, on notice.

The day they got the call, the first thing they did was take Star up to her room, change her into a set of sleepwear - this time a black thermal top and black leggings with gray swirling stripes - and tuck her into bed. No questions asked. They provided her with a nice hot cup of tea and an extra soft pillow, smothering her with affection and reassuring her that they all loved her. Just as they were preparing to depart, Marco, Janna, and Tom all knocked on Star's door and entered, with Marco holding a bouquet of flowers. "Star?"

"In here, Marco." Star responded, sipping her tea. She got a pat on the shoulder from Eclipsa.

"Is there anything we can get you dear?"

Star shrugged. "Just a hug?"

And they all obliged without hesitation before departing to let the kids spend time with Star. "Hey, kiddo..." Tom said awkwardly, breaking the brief silence. "How ya doin?" They had been made privy to Star's test results, but not to the one that caused them all to panic. They figured Star would be better off relaying the information.

"Oh, me? I'm doing great!" She lied, poorly hiding it behind a smile. "I got the results back! Yep! Clean bill of health." Nobody was buying it.

"Star...they already told us."

That was all she needed to drop the facade, putting her cup of tea to the side. "Okay yeah...I'm kind of a mess."

"Kind of?"

"Not helping, Tom." She sighed loudly. "Okay, more like a total flaming-garbage mess. Looks like I'm gonna be benched for a while. Guess I better get used to this bed."

"Maybe it's for the best." He argued, approaching her and lovingly stroking her hair. She struggled to make eye contact with him, once again fighting off dark clouds in her head. Marco, meanwhile, set the flowers right on her lap.

"You guys didn't have to come over, you know. I don't want to drag any of you down with me." Tom embraced the somber girl.

"We're not letting you go through this alone."

"Demon Man's right. The worst thing you can do right now is push us away. You _need_ a damn strong support network." Janna assured her. "And what better support network than your fellow band buddies?"

"That's true. But you've already been super patient with..." Her eyes lit up and she turned to Tom, slyly smiling at him. "_Demon Man_, huh? Already with the pet names."

The half-demon's face went red. "Oh shut up!" While Janna laughed at Tom's misfortune, Marco went to Star to hug her.

"Gotta admit I'm a little bit nervous that I'm suddenly just gonna start being treated more like a princess _now_ than when I was an actual princess. God, why am I like this?"

"You're gonna get through all of this, Star. I promise."

"I'm glad _someone_ thinks that at least." She returned Marco's hug and even went the extra mile with a kiss. "Hey Marco...thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm not going anywhere, you're gonna be stuck with me fo-"

"No. Thank you...for standing up for me."

Marco raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"At my session. You...stood up for me. I didn't think you had that in you, and...I never knew how much all of this was hurting you."

"Oh, _that_. No, that's okay. I'm gonna apologize again to your folks anyway, I was out of line."

"No you weren't." Janna spoke up sternly. "Dude, you were completely in your right to speak out like that. It's about _time_ you opened your fricking mouth. We need more of _that_ Marco."

"Janna-"

"No, she's right." Star hugged the boy again. "You saw what happened with me: trying to keep everything bottled up only leads to disaster. I don't want that for you. I need you to talk to me when something's bothering you. Especially if it's me that's bothering you...especially if I do or say something that ever hurts you."

"I know, you're right." He sighed. "I just don't want to feel like I'm adding even _more_ stress onto you."

"While I appreciate the consideration, I'd rather you be honest and talk to me about whatever's on your mind. It's a lot healthier than keeping it all in and pretending everything is fine." She looked over at Tom, a sad frown befalling her. "That's the mistake I made with you _and_ Tom. I wasn't honest about the things I was feeling because I was embarrassed to admit it. I screwed it up with him-"

"Star, you _didn't_-" Tom's attempt to console her was stopped by Janna, who silently relayed to him to let her go off. She was the one that needed to come to the conclusion on her own that it was not all on her.

"And I don't want to screw it up with you. I love you, Marco. I want you to be happy."

"I love you too. And I'm already plenty happy with you."

"D'aww, you big teddy bear." They shared another embrace. "I'll do my best to learn to enjoy this forced R&R, and in the meantime hopefully they'll be able to figure out _exactly_ what's wrong with my little blood-pumper."

"Oh Star, we already know what's wrong with it." Marco said jokingly, kissing her cheek. "It's emotional trauma, but we know you can overcome it." He smiled warmly at her, hoping his words would perk her up. And he picked up right away when they didn't. "What? Wasn't that a metaphor?"

Star shook her head ever so quietly. "...they didn't tell you?"

And then his face fell hard. As did Tom's and Janna's. "...Star?"

She took a deep breath and cleared her head for a moment. This was not going to be an easy conversation. "Okay...so they didn't give me any specifics, but...the doctor said he found something "off" with...my heart."

All three of her friends' jaws hit the ground simultaneously. "...Y-Your heart?"

"They couldn't figure out exactly what it was that was off about it, but...I think I know. You guys remember that...that weird spell Marco & I were afflicted with? The one that slowly killed us from the heart? The one we had to go through those hoops to make that healing spell for...?"

"I remember. But didn't we fix that? We both drank what was left of that concoction."

"No, Marco. _You_ drank it. Don't you remember? I _gave_ it to you to save you. There was only enough left for one of us. The only reason I even got any of it at all was because I kissed you right after you drank some and you still had a little on your lips."

"I told you. Backwash." Janna smirked, rolling her eyes.

"But that's the problem: that was only a _little_ of it. What if..." She looked around the room silently for a moment, struggling to finish her sentence. One could cut the tension in the air with a sword. Internally, Marco, Tom, and Janna were already contemplating the question Star was about to pose on them. And they had not a single answer to ease the tension.

"...What if the spell's wearing off?"

**End of Episode 3.**

**Yep. Star's in for a rough ride, but I'm confident she'll come out on the other side better off for it.**

**Well look at that, I _was_ able to get another update out before the end of the year. _And_ it's also the single longest chapter of any story I've ever written. Man I feel good about that! So now that "Beautiful Christmas" is wrapped up this fic is my only ongoing project which means I can devote all of my writing attention to it, which hopefully means consistent updates. I'm still going to try to stick to a monthly update schedule, but obviously anything can change at any time, so we're playing it by ear. Hope you stick around, because I have some fun things planned for this story.**

**As always, please read & review. Reviews are greatly appreciated! :) **


	4. Echo Creek Credence

**Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 4: Echo Creek Credence**

**Episode Summary: The Butterfly family gets a tour of the town formerly called Echo Creek, and with the kids, reminisce about the joy the town and its inhabitants brought into Star's life while also coming to terms with their roles in each other's lives, for better or worse.**

**Original Postdate: January 13, 2020**

* * *

One fine morning on Earth-Mewni, Star found herself sitting in her bed, patiently waiting for her loving boyfriend to return with her breakfast for the morning. Yes, despite her reservations about this new "arrangement" between her, Marco, and her family, Star still found herself getting treated extra carefully and lovingly by her loved ones. In her hands she held something; specifically, it was the ray-gun device Tom had previously shown her and Marco...the one that could let them dimension hop again. Or rather, it was _a_ ray-gun device that allowed them to dimension hop. One of a select few that existed. Turns out Tom's dad was secretly dabbling into the world of scientific discovery, allowing for this unintentional breakthrough. Although the specifics of said breakthrough...were not divulged...for now, and nobody was in the mood to question it further.

Finally, Marco came into the room holding a tray of food: a tall stack of pieces of French Toast with several strawberries sitting on top, as well as a stick of butter and pitcher of maple syrup on the side ready for us. He set the syrup and butter on the nightstand right next to Star's bed and the tray right on the bed near Star's lap. "Ta-da! Freshly cooked French Toast!"

"Ooh...it looks tasty!" She said, practically watering at the mouth. Although she couldn't help but notice the one thing that _wasn't_ there. "Wait a minute...something's missing..."

The boy instantly knew what she was referring to. He sighed and reached into one of his hoodie pockets, pulling out a jar of sugar and setting it next to the butter. "There."

"_Thank_ you. Was that so hard?" She teased, gently grabbing his hoodie and bringing him in for a kiss. "One of these days you're gonna let me cook for you guys again."

"You bet. But there's _no_ rush. You've got a long, _long_ vacation ahead of you. Enjoy every minute of it." Marco was hellbent on honoring his "Star is to stay on vacation for at least as long as or longer than she worked on Mewni to bring peace to Mewmans and monsters" pledge, as were the rest of their loved ones. The smile on his face was so innocent & sincere. She couldn't possibly be upset at this arrangement even if she wanted to be. "Especially while we all work to figure out how to fix..." He put his hand over her chest where her heart was. "_this._" And he didn't just mean it metaphorically.

"You're a total sweetheart, Diaz. I really don't deserve any of this..." She sighed as she took a bite out of her French Toast. The sensational taste was enough to temporarily quell her self-loathing. "Oh this is _amazing_..." She said before returning her attention to the ray-gun. "So...Tom's pop made this thing."

"Yup. Apparently it lets you hop dimensions. Just like those old scissors we used to have."

"Yeah..."

"You okay?"

"I guess so. I mean...I really want to see some of our friends from other dimensions again. But what if it's dangerous? I never picked Tom's pop to be a science guy or whatever Earth would call them..."

"...Scientists?"

"Yeah, those. I'm just saying 'what if something goes wrong?"

"Well they already tested it, and Tom says they checked out, and I trust him on that. He has no reason to lie about it."

"I guess you're right. I'm just being paranoid." She set the thing down on the bed next to her and continued eating her breakfast in peace. All the while, Marco smothered her in kisses. "So...what's the plan for today?"

"Well if occurred to me that _I_ got a nice tour of Mewni but your folks never got a tour of our world, so me and Janna are taking your folks out on a tour of Echo Creek. You know, show them around town, get them acquainted with all of the cool spots you found while you were living on Earth with me."

"Aww, that's so nice."

"Yeah, they were all just so curious about what it was that you loved about Echo Creek, and now we get to show them." He kissed her again. "Do you want to join us?"

She hesitated. "Uhh..."

"You don't _have_ to, you know. You _can_ hang back if you want. Heck you can stay in this bed all day. It's _your_ vacation."

She giggled & rolled her eyes. He was such a gentleman at all hours of the day. "That's sweet, but...I'm not feeling particularly lethargic today...at least not yet."

"So you _do_ want to come?"

Again she hesitated. Trips down memory lane were likely going to be a necessary tool for Star as she tries to dig herself out of the emotional hole she's in. But a slow pace was important too. "...Maybe I'll catch up later."

The boy tickled her under her chin and got a laugh from her. "Whatever you want." And he followed that up with another kiss. "I've got some time before we all head out. Is there anything else I can get for you?"

She sat there in silence for a moment, pondering her answer. Her eyes darted back and forth and a deep red blush emerged on her cheeks. "Well, there _is_ one thing..." And before she could even go any further, Marco got the hint, darting to her closet, pulling out a tie that she kept in there just in case and placing it on the doorknob on the outside of her door.

"Why didn't you just say so?" He said flirtatiously as he made his way back to the bed. Star purred at him.

"From the looks of it, I didn't have to." She took the tray off the bed so as to not spill it and, with Marco, began carefully stripping. When they were good and ready, they climbed back into bed and under the sheets. "Hey Marco, could you do me a favor?"

"...Sure, what is it?"

"...Promise me you won't stop this time if I fall asleep before it's over?"

He groaned softly and shook his head as he got him and her to lie down. "We've been over this-"

"I know I know I know, I just feel lousy that I keep ruining the fun for you. You deserve to enjoy yourself too and I hate that I keep knocking out before we get to finish."

"But that's not your fault. We know you're off your game right now..."

"That's not an excuse, though."

He stroked her hair and kissed her again. "You act like I'm not getting _any_ of the fun, and I can assure you that's not true. So we have to get a little creative with our fun now and again, it's not a big deal."

"You mean like using my tush as a head rest for the night?" She purred & winked his way, causing his face to go pale, then read.

"N-No. I-I mean, you know I haven't done that." He stammered; Star knew he was telling the truth, which is exactly what annoyed her.

"Of course I know that. So you know what I'm gonna ask you to do tonight."

Yet again she wanted to push the envelope of the intimate fun they could have with each other. And there was no mistaking it, the boy wanted it too. But he never could've imagined it would escalate this quickly. "You can't be serious." She crossed her arms playfully; she was dead serious. He couldn't help but laugh. "Dammit you're insane."

She laughed back in response. "Yeah I know."

"You sure that's something you want?"

"Well...we won't know until we try. I have no problem with it."

"You don't?"

"Of course not, especially because it's you. Marco, you treat me like a queen even when I feel like a filthy ditch digger."

He smiled sweetly & pecked her lips gently. "You're not just a queen. You're a hero. _My_ hero."

"D'aww, Marco, stop..."

"What? You want me to lie?" He leaned in close and prepared himself. "I love you Star."

"I love you too, Marco. Now don't you dare hold back on me."

"Your wish is my command, my queen."

* * *

Sadly, just as Star feared, she fell asleep again in the middle of their latest escapade. To be fair, that was still over an hour into it, so it wasn't like there wasn't _any_ fun, but she already had a tough enough time feeling like she wasn't being a good girlfriend to him. To her, this wasn't helping matters. But her concerns always fell on deaf ears: Marco loved her dearly & had no trouble being incredibly patient with her as she worked through _everything_ that was debilitating her, both physically & emotionally.

Once Marco realized Star had fallen asleep, he ceased _immediately_ \- it didn't matter to him what she said about not wanting him to miss out on the fun - her person & trust were too important to ruin. He kissed her gently on the lips, tucked the blankets over her again, and got himself dressed to go, but not before leaving a little something extra right by her food tray.

As soon as he finished dressing himself, he joined everyone else outside the castle where they went off to give the Butterflies a tour of Echo Creek...or at least the place formerly known as Echo Creek.

Their first stop on the tour: Echo Creek Academy, the school Marco and his friends all attend (or in Marco's case, _attended)_, and the one Moon & River sent Star to when they originally banished her from Mewni. Marco & Janna led the way in giving everyone the grand old tour of the building. In spite of the cleaving, the majority of the building remained structurally the same. No classrooms were rearranged, no significant damage was dealt to the structure, and the electricity was working as it should. So the place was essentially exactly as it had been left before the cleaving. The only major difference was...well, significantly fewer students. Only the worst performers from the previous school year. Yep, it was Summer School time.

This discovery made Moon, River, & Marco realize that the status of Star's Earth education was completely up in the air for multiple reasons, 1) because Star had to leave for a year to help Mewni recover from Toffee's onslaught and _then_ to help Eclipsa, and 2) this new cleaved world's educational system wasn't entirely fully established yet. For the time being, most everyone was just trying to resume the routine prior to the cleaving. Thus, Summer School.

"Why are these young children stuck in that dusty room on a beautiful day like today?" Moon asked the group.

"Because they're delinquents and probably failed all their important classes and now they have to suffer the consequences." Janna answered, with a hint of smugness in her voice.

"And trust me, Summer School on Earth is not very pleasant." Marco added. "It makes me glad I managed to get my High School Equivalent Diploma while I was on Mewni."

"Yeah how _did_ that work again?" Janna raised an eyebrow towards the boy. "Didn't you tell me Mewni doesn't have classrooms? O-Or schools for that matter?"

"...It's a long story. See-"

"Well well, isn't this a sight?" Came a voice from just down the hall. The group turned to find that it was Ms. Skullnick, their teacher, or in Marco's case, _former_ teacher. Thanks to the elimination of magic, Skullnick returned to her human appearance. This...severely disappointed Janna.

"Aw, dagnabbit." Janna exclaimed. "She's human again."

"The pleasure is always mine, Miss Ordonia." Skullnick responded rather bitterly.

Eclipsa turned to Marco. "_What does she mean by 'again'?" _She whispered.

"Oh, uh...Star...might've accidentally turned her into...you know, a troll."

Moon overheard his response & loudly gasped. "I knew it!" She exclaimed, recalling a brief call a long time ago where Star asked her about how to hypothetically turn someone from a troll to a human. (**i.e. the episode "Match Maker"**).

"So...you're _not_ a troll anymore." Marco said to Skullnick.

"Believe it or not I'm just as disappointed as the rest of you. Why did I look better as a troll!?"

"..._Do we have to answer that?_" Moon whispered to them.

"As annoying as the girl was, her turning me into that _thing_ was the best thing to happen to me in a long time. If only she showed that much passion about her studies as she did about that magic nonsense."

Though there was no animosity in her voice, only the regular drone once could expect from her, Moon did not take kindly to her words about her daughter. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing personal against any of my students, but let's say it was probably for the best she dropped out when she did."

Moon was having none of this. "For your information, whoever you are, she didn't drop out. She left to return to her post and serve her kingdom as admirably as any young princess her age possibly could."

Janna lightly tapped on Moon's shoulder. "that's literally the definition of dropping out."

"And considering her downright atrocious grades, it might've been for the best."

Moon's annoyance with Skullnick only grew. "You're quite brave to be talking down about my daughter when she's not here to defend herself." She started to inch towards Skullnick, catching her off guard. But she was stopped by Janna & Marco, who got in front of her quickly enough to stave off a potential confrontation.

"Easy, easy there..." Janna said calmly. "She's just jossing you."

"Yeah, it's not worth it." Marco added in. "It's really not."

"So I'm supposed to sit back and let her backtalk Star like it's no big deal?"

"...Kinda." Janna insisted. "Miss Skullnick might be abrasive and cynical, but she's mostly harmless."

"...What do you mean "mostly?" Skullnick barked, annoyed. Eventually Moon calmed herself enough to be released from Janna & Marco's grip.

"I think that's enough time spent here." She said, calmly walking towards the entrance. The rest of the group followed closely behind. Onto the next stop of the tour.

* * *

The next stop: the place formerly known as Britta's Tacos. It was the Butterfly family's turn to experience the delicious taste of Britta's delicious tacos. "Ladies, gentlemen, and others, behold...Britta's famous pain-peppered tacos!" Marco announced to the group as he handed each of them a taco.

"So these are those "tacos" that Star went on and on about..." Eclipsa commented. "I suppose they look promising."

"Why is this food stand such an embarrassing dump?" River commented, noting the poor appearance the inside of the stand had. "You would think they would take some dang pride in their appearance, most especially since they appear to have such immense popularity around these places?"

"You'd be wrong. _Very_ wrong." Janna chipped in. "What are you guys waiting for? Dig in!"

The Butterflies exchanged looks with each other, then turned to their respective taco, taking a small bite out of it. At different chew points, each of their eyes lit up, their taste buds entering taste heaven. "Oh...Oh my..." Moon in particular was delighted. "This is exquisite."

"I don't think we've ever had anything quite like this on Mewni." Eclipsa added. "I simply _must_ get the recipe to these concoctions."

"No can do, m'lady." Came a voice from the food stand, none other than Sensei Brantley, who was still running the food stand for some reason. The mere sound of his voice caused Janna to quickly hide behind Globgor's body for protection; she was still banned. "All Britta's Tacos recipes are strictly confidential and not to be redistributed to any customer for any reason." Eclipsa crossed her arms in disappointment. "By the way, Diaz...congratulations!" He said to Marco.

"What? Oh, you mean Star? Uh, thanks...?"

"Yeah, man, I always knew you two had, er, somethin' somethin' going out that you were hidin'."

"Um...what do you..." Oh it didn't take long at all for Marco to put two and two together. And just as quickly his face turned a bright shade of red. "Oh my god, you _know_ about that?"

"Little dude, c'mon. We _all_ knew it was only a matter of time."

Marco embarrassingly pulled his hoodie up over his face, the shame palpable. Eclipsa went over to console him.

"No need to feel ashamed, dear." She said, patting his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with intimacy, especially when it's done responsibly."

"...wait, intimacy? Nah I'm talking about those two lovebirds da..." This time it was Sensei's turn to put the pieces together. Yeah, turns out he wasn't actually referring to Star & Marco's sexual activity. "...Ohhhh ho ho wait a minute, you're telling me they...whoa, dude! Way to go!"

The boy buried himself deeper into his hoodie as Eclipsa once again was left in a state of "open mouth, insert foot." "How am I so terrible at this?" She whispered just loudly enough for him to hear.

"_I was going to ask you the same thing."_ He replied in a loud whisper.

"Don't deflect, Diaz, you're the one that got busy!" Janna instinctively yelled from behind Globgor. The sound of her voice drew Sensei's attention.

"Hold the phone. I know that voice anywhere..." Janna carefully peered around from behind Globgor, noticed Sensei's increasingly annoyed facial expressions, and decided to make a run for the hills. She leaped out from behind him and started running. "ORDONIA! YOU'RE STILL BANNED!"

"_Catch ya on the flip side, suckas!_" She shouted, her voice trailing. "_I'll catch up with you guys later!_"

No surprise, but this turn of events left everyone a bit baffled. "...Well...that was eventful." Moon commented. Without thinking, her head turned towards the collection of tables that were scattered around the area, and her eyes settled on one that featured two Mewmans and one Earth human sitting at one of the tables, casually eating burritos and conversing with one another. The mood appeared to be light and positive, which brought a smile to Moon's face, as well as the rest of the group once they turned in the direction she was facing.

Unfortunately, this uplifting scene was short lived. The two Mewmans caught on that Moon was watching them and looked up at her. They ended up having to do a double take just to confirm it was her, but once they did, the mood drowned into a somewhat awkward, uncomfortable aura. The Mewman's facial expressions were...a difficult read. They emulated a mixture of emotions: confusion, anger, disappointment, resentment, empathy...it was impossible to pin down exactly one emotion.

For whatever reason, Moon felt compelled to approach them slowly, having a hard time reading their faces. She couldn't make heads or tails of whether they were happy to see her, angry at her presence, or simply indifferent to it all. The truth was a bit muddier than that. "...Hello there."

"Q-Queen Moon..." One of them said carefully. "O-Or I guess I should say "Former" Queen Moon..."

"Just Moon, please. The monarchy is dead now. Actually, I just realized...I have no idea how this world functions politically."

"_I'll explain later!_" Marco yelled in the distance.

"Yeah, we figured...that had happened."

"This new place...it's been quite an adjustment." The other Mewman said. "But not really a _bad_ one, per-say. The new people around are friendly for the most part, the skies are gorgeous, the food is wonderful..."

"That's wonderful to hear. We could all use some peace for a change, without the fear of magic throwing our balance out of whack or angry bigots running amuck or-"

"Or Solarian warriors running around destroying everything in sight in pursuit of a meaningless war that won't help anyone in the long run." The first Mewman said with a monotonous tone and deadpan glare at Moon. And those words cut deep into Moon, though she said nothing in response. The Earth human of the group kept to herself and continued to enjoy her burrito.

"...right..." As awkwardly as the conversation started, the conversation ended, with Moon walking away and returning to the group.

"You alright?" Marco immediately asked.

"...Perhaps I'm merely being paranoid, but I don't think the Mewmans are particularly happy with me at the moment."

"I...can't say I blame them, to be honest." His tone dropped immensely. "The Solarian program did a lot more harm than good."

"I suppose I really...how does that expression go? "Dropped the ball?"

"...big time."

She sighed and disappointingly looked down at the ground. "Only thing worse than knowing how severely I nearly ruined everything is knowing just how hard Star overworked to try and fix all of it."

The boy approached her slowly, consoling her with a gentle pat of her arm. "You can't do that to yourself. That's over and done with."

"No...no, it's never that simple."

"...I know it's not. Star's...she's having a rough time. For all we preach about the need to forgive...it's a _lot_ easier to forgive others than it is to forgive yourself." Moon nodded in agreement. "Let's keep going, maybe seeing more of Echo Creek will take your mind off of things."

* * *

The tour lasted for practically the remainder of the day. One of the final stops, late into the evening: The Echo Creek Mud Pit attraction. Today, for some reason, the attraction had a huge crowd drawn to it, crowds mixed with humans, Mewmans, and monsters - Buff Frog and his children all included - all enjoying the mud. After being chased out of Britta's Tacos, Janna manged to rejoin the group at the mud pit, and she decided to take it upon herself to demonstrate the fun people could have in them by engaging in a wrestling match in one of them with River. Safe to say...River was no match for Janna, a fact that took everyone except for Marco by surprise.

"She plays _dirty_." Globgor remarked. "By that I mean unfairly."

"All's fair in love and war, dude!" Janna yelled as she trapped River in a headlock. "Come on, dude, you can do better than this, can't you!?"

"...She's not going to hurt him, will she?" Eclipsa asked.

"Nah, Janna's not like that. But she _does_ play for keeps, so River better step up his game." Marco said with a slightly smug look on his face. "Hey River!" Marco shouted. "She's ticklish behind her ears."

"What!?" She exclaimed in outrage. "Diaz, you-" But her complaining was interrupted by River taking the initiative and attempting to tickle her behind her ears. This caused her to laugh quite loudly, though her grip didn't budge. "You're so gonna pay for this later!" The others joined in the laughter as they watched River try and fail to get the best of Janna. Their laughter managed to draw the attention of everyone else around them. The humans joined in with mixed levels of laughter, while the monsters and mewmans all collectively took time staring at our group.

"Uh...hi..." Marco waved awkwardly to them, but their attention was focused squarely on Moon.

"Hello everyone..." Moon also waved awkwardly to them.

One of the monsters, Slime Monster, as well as his girlfriend, Penelope Spiderbite, expressed clear discomfort in their body language. "Um...hello...Queen Eclipsa." Slime said quickly before looking away in uncomfortable silence.

"Oh no, I'm no longer queen." Eclipsa explained, clearly sensing the discomfort emulating from them and the others but unsure how to proceed. "This...this new world doesn't operate like that, I'm sure."

"...okay, I _really_ need to educate you guys on the countries _outside_ of ours." Marco whispered just loudly enough to be heard.

"Yeah, but Queen Eclipsa sounds better than...well...any _other_ option..." Penelope chimed in, making it obvious she was referring to Moon.

"...even Queen Star?" Marco interjected, attempting to deflect away. For a brief moment, it worked, as the monsters and even the mewmans all murmured in agreement.

"...Wait, where _is_ Star?" Slime asked, noting her absence from the group. The question, as simple as it was, got River & Janna to stop their mud fight temporarily. Marco sheepishly looked around, if only to muster the courage to give an honest answer.

"Star...she's back at home...resting."

Slime and Penelope exchanged looks. "...resting? W-What happened?"

He took a deep breath, composing himself and checking that he had his thoughts in order. "The short version is...she...had a nervous breakdown." Those words pierced the hearts of all the monsters and even the mewmans that were there. Tales of Star being Eclipsa's royal adviser were quite common in Mewni. Every time something that was seen by the mewmans as beneficiary to Mewni's betterment happened, they attributed it to Star, not Eclipsa. Every time something that was seen by the monsters as beneficiary to easing tensions between mewmans and monsters happened, it was again attributed to Star. For all intents and purposes, Star was the shadow queen, the one truly running the show, even though the circumstances of turning the throne back over to Eclipsa had been made quite clear to all. Even the mewmans who had no desire to be ruled under Eclipsa were aware of the arrangement. It was pretty much the worst kept secret in Mewni. And there was no question they held Star on a high pedestal for deciding to serve under her despite their reservations about her.

"Sh-She's fine now, I guess..." Marco continued. "...Not really...okay, no, she's not."

"So it _is_ true..." Slime spoke up.

"...What's true?"

"It _was_ a suicide attempt..." Penelope finished for Slime, both very visibly heartbroken. "Oh my god-"

"No!" Marco shouted quickly before covering his mouth. "It...It wasn't suicide. Honest. She just...all the stress she was under and it kept piling on and she just finally snapped. Did a real number on her mirror. She just lost control, it wasn't her trying to end her life or anything. H-How do you know about that anyway?"

"Is my fault." Buff Frog raised his hand, making his presence known. "When it happened, you told me there was chance Butterfly would be out of commission for big fight. I went to try and scrounge up reinforcements."

"...Well, we got lucky there, Star _was_ still able to do magic. But...thanks for trying, anyway."

"But I don't understand..." Penelope spoke up again. "W-What happened? I mean I _know_ Star was majorly stressed with all the political stuff and Queen Eclipsa and Globgor and Mina but...we didn't think it was _that_ bad."

"She hid it well...until she didn't. Everything just compounded on her...turning over the throne, having to basically be the one to train her replacement while also running everything behind the scenes, the coronation, personal stuff, and then having to fend off Mina..."

"...my _betrayal_..." Moon cut in, fully accepting responsibility for her role in both the Solarian invasion _and_ Star's deteriorating mental health.

"...Yeah, _that_." Everyone in the crowd minus the Earth humans knew what she was referring to.

"What were you thinking?" Slime loudly yelled before quickly covering his mouth. His outburst was clearly unplanned, but it was a question that even Moon agreed deserved an answer.

"...I suppose I wasn't. That's by no means an excuse, but..."

"But there _had_ to be a reason. We're talking about betraying your own people. Never mind us monster kind, your _own people_!"

Slime was not wrong. It was one thing to have people actively choose to join the new Solarian army and get new recruitments for Mina. But for all intents and purposes, the majority of mewmans did not care to partake in the army. Even those that strongly despised Eclipsa and/or Globgor had no interest in risking themselves for what was ultimately a fruitless war. And those that did have since regretted doing so and have chosen to mostly stay isolated. One of the few exceptions was Moon.

"At first I wasn't even going to bother with it. Mina had confided in me her intentions of overthrowing Eclipsa. At first I refused to join her and I left her to her own devices. I...decided to just try and forget about it. I wasn't in charge at the time, I didn't have any real authority to stop anything. Eclipsa had the throne, so it was her problem."

"_And_ Star's." Marco hissed, briefly glaring at Moon before realizing his rising anger and looking away in shame. He didn't _want_ to be upset at Moon (and River to a lesser extent) for that. He wasn't proud of it. But Star's well-being and happiness was his number one priority above all else, even her parents.

"Yes...and Star's too. But the more I thought about it, the more I think I realized...that I had made a mistake."

"...not offering to help her?" Moon nodded, as did River. "You know, she probably would've just said no anyway."

"Perhaps. But I still could've spoken up. But more to the point...I decided that it was too risky to leave everything as it was. Not because I didn't trust that Star could hold her own, but because Mina..."

"Was a lunatic?" One of the other monsters in the crowd yelled out.

"...Yes, quite the lunatic. Unstable, also. I thought that if I could sneak into the fold and win her over...gain her trust...I could somehow be there to put a stop to whatever she had planned if it went too far...obviously that backfired quite spectacularly. So much so that my own daughter essentially disowned me. I very much deserved it."

"And all of that just because you didn't trust Eclipsa..."

Moon sighed and began rubbing her head. The stories of Eclipsa her head had been filled with for so many years by people, most especially the Magic High Commission skewed her view of the one formerly known as the Queen of Darkness. But no, of course, like with everything that came with the Age of Magic, the truth was far more complex & convoluted than that. Upon falling in love with Globgor, Eclipsa held no interest in holding the throne. But at no point did she perform any action that put any of the mewmans in danger. But apparently, to the Magic High Commission, this - combined with Globgor eating her then-husband King Shastacan - was akin to literal treason, and as a result, apparently justified being crystallized for hundreds of years.

"I let the Magic High Commission fill my - and everyone's - head with lies. I _should_ have questioned them far more than I did. But questioning the magical authority was just...unheard of. If I had, then perhaps everything plays out vastly differently. Perhaps if I don't join with Mina, we don't need to destroy the magic..."

"And then this beautiful world doesn't exist." Marco pointed out. "The world that Star and I...somehow made." Moon smiled at the boy, deeply proud of them both despite the boy's current love-hate relationship with her and River.

"I suppose a part of me always..._resented_...how quickly our kingdom came to accept and love Eclipsa as their ruler."

"I wouldn't say they "loved" her..." One of the other mewmans spoke up, stepping forward carefully.

"What do you mean by that?" Marco asked the mewman.

"You'd be surprised at how fast news spreads."

"You mean...the conspiracy...Star giving the throne back..."

"Yep. All of it."

"And not just _your_ kingdom either." Penelope jumped in again. "All of the kingdoms heard. And I think...I think a lot of acceptance for Queen Eclipsa wasn't out of love for her, but for respect for Star." This one revelation alone was enough to send Moon, River, and Marco nearly into tears, especially Moon. "I don't think anyone was really _happy_ about the change or the circumstances, but everyone pretty much agreed: Star was in a lose-lose situation no matter what she did, and believe it or not, people were _not_ particularly happy with the Magic High Commission after that conspiracy came out."

Needless to say, Moon was not handling these revelations well, pushing her to the brink of crying. River stepped out of his mud puddle to go console her. "Moon Pie, please don't be upset." He wiped a tear from her eye.

"Oh dear River, don't you understand? My actions undermined _everything_ Star believed in and worked _so _hard to achieve. I gave her so much grief about needing to step up and perform her royal duties for her kingdom, and then she finally does and what do I do? I invalidate _all_ of it!"

"That's not true!"

"Yeah, we know it wasn't that simple." Even Marco was prepared to defend Moon a little. "Everything just...fell apart."

"Perhaps...no, no, I refuse to use that as an excuse. The truth is I just could not let go of the throne."

"Really?" Marco raised an eyebrow. "Because I really don't remember seeing you anywhere near the castle at all during those several months Star was killing herself-"

"She meant emotionally, dude." Janna intervened.

"Correct." Moon looked away momentarily & took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts. "My entire identity has been centered around being Queen. River and I ruled Mewni for so long that I pretty much forgot how to be...well, anything else. I had nothing going for me, not even...being a mother. I wanted Star to be ready to ascend to the throne, but...a part of me never wanted to relinquish it. And look what I did. All in some twisted effort to regain it. And now there's no throne to even pass down to her."

Marco looked up at the crestfallen mother, sympathizing with her plight. "And now you feel like you owe it to her to...make her feel like she did earn it."

"She _did_ earn it. More than I've ever properly acknowledged."

"I...understand how you feel. I was _so_ proud of her for stepping up as much as she did. She grew up big time and made a _lot_ of sacrifices. All of which she's beating herself up for now. And I just feel like now that it's _my_ job to sort of give her that break she's been needing." He turned back to the group at large. "I took her out of town on a long vacation after magic was destroyed. She needed...she _needs_ a break."

"You were gone for fortnight." Buff Frog pointed out. "That did not suffice?"

The boy quietly shook his head. "No...not to me at least. Star was in a lose-lose situation no matter what she did, and she..." He looked up at Moon, a frown befalling his face again. "She didn't have as strong of a support network as she needed. And she _killed_ herself for such a long time trying to be peacemaker and royal adviser. She tried so dam hard to fix sins that weren't even hers to begin with! And she had _no_ help!" Marco had to give himself a moment to compose himself. The hurt never went away; it was still very much raw for him. "The way I see it, she deserves a vacation just as long as she spent doing all of that, if not longer! Heck, if I had my way I'd make sure she never came back from vacation mode. And I will tell her that to her face and anyone that questions it every single time! And yes I know I'm being ridiculous by saying this, I just love her _so_ much..." His passion and love for Star was truly unmatched, evidenced by the growing tears in his eyes.

"It most certainly feels like...we do owe a debt of gratitude to her." Moon agreed.

"We _all _do." Slime also agreed, getting everyone else to nod in agreement.

"_**No you don't**_."

The voice that uttered that counterargument was completely recognizable. They turned in the direction of the voice and saw that it was indeed Star who made that statement. But this time Star's appearance took everyone by surprise. And that's because...her appearance _was_ drastically different than what they had seen from her just earlier that morning.

Her long flowing locks were gone; left behind was an extra short haircut with a few locks hanging down from the back. Her signature devil horns headband was also gone, replaced by a black headband with two gold, shimmering stars in the place where the horns used to rest. Her outfit was also a severe deviation from the norm, or even the new norm. She still sported her "Star Butterfly" leather jacket and her "Bubble Butt" t-shirt, only this time the leather jacket was dark indigo, and the t-shirt was black, with "Star Bubble Butt Butterfly" in big white letters. And underneath the jacket & t-shirt was her dress for the day. It was the purple dress that she had bought on her getaway with Marco, only now it was dyed dark indigo, and her leggings & boots were black. It was a completely different Star standing before them, mentally, physically, _and_ literally.

And it wasn't just Star standing there. Pony Head was also there, floating right beside her, drawing the shock of the poor Earth humans who were still having to adapt to the new breed of creatures inhabiting their world. "S...Star?" Any heartache Marco was feeling at that moment instantly vanished upon seeing his beloved standing there, despite the questions about her new look. He immediately dropped everything and ran up to her.

"Easy Diaz you're gonna h-**_WHOA OKAY_**!" She found herself tackled hard by Marco & brought right to the ground, being smothered by his warm, affectionate hugs & kisses. The rest of the crowd aww'd at the sight. Pony Head rolled her eyes & pretend gagged. "Geez, Diaz, I didn't think you'd miss me this much." She half-joked, only to pull him off of her and realize he was legitimately crying. "Aww, you _did_ miss me."

He sniffled back some tears. "Y-Yeah, I guess you can say that."

"Yo Earth Turd, I knew youse always had a soft spot for B-Fly!" She announced in her typical shrill voice. This time though Marco wasn't even bothered by it. He stood up & dusted himself off.

"It's nice to see you too, Pony Head."

And his reply to her left her completely dumbstruck. "Hey, something's wrong with the kid. He ain't never been that cool with me."

"What have you guys been up to?" Star asked, ignoring her friend's plight.

"Oh, just showing everyone around town. You know, checking out all the sights, showing off what's cool about Echo Creek, reminiscing about...stuff..."

"...Trying not to beat yourselves up for the umpteenth time?"

"...You heard us?"

"I heard enough." She reached her arms out and hugged the boy, drawing more aww's from the crowd. "Hi guys!" She ran over to all of the monsters and mewmans who were also surrounding the mud pits. Penelope, Slime, and Buff Frog & children all approached her.

"Star! We heard what happened. We're so sorry..." She said somberly.

"Oh, uh, thanks...but I'm doing better now...I guess. Okay, not really, but I'm working hard at it." She looked away and began rubbing her arm in embarrassment. "Did you guys all mean that?"

"Mean what?"

"You know, the...the 'debt of gratitude' talk?"

"Of course we did!" Slime happily interjected. "It's all true."

Star awkwardly smiled at them. "You guys..."

"What's wrong?"

"...I know you all mean well, but I..." She loudly & frustratingly sighed. "I don't know. I'm so confused. I mean it's _wonderful_ that you all feel like I did a good job and I deserve some reward for it. I don't want to say you shouldn't do that, I'd feel terrible if I made you feel guilty for it. But...I'm not sure I want that."

"Do you _know_ what you want, though?" Marco butted in, curiously concerned for her.

"I think so..."

"What is it?"

"Honestly? I...I just want to be able to _move on_. You know, put the age of magic behind me once and for all and finally live in the moment...embrace everything this beautiful new world has to offer!" She made such an exaggerated gesture with her hands that it caused her to wince in pain; she put a hand over her heart and gently clutched it.

"So why don't you just _do_ that?" Slime asked innocently.

"Because she _can't_." Penelope urged him, and without saying anything further, he got the message.

"...And from what I heard..." She turned back to her loved ones. "It sounds like I'm not the only one." Though their embarrassment was palpable, none of them disputed her claim. "I think the age of magic and queens really screwed all of us up. Both emotionally _and_ physically. Hell, I'm in _therapy_ trying to fix myself. Plus I exhausted myself & stressed myself out so severely that 1) I have a heart issue now which may or may not be a holdover for what Mina did to us after magic temporarily came back, and 2) I'm on mandatory bed rest. Doctor's _and_ family's orders."

"Which you're technically breaking just by being here-" Marco pointed out.

"Dude, like shut up, she's on a roll." Pony Head implored.

"I think I'm just caught in this weird middle ground. My family means well trying to protect me & treat me right - seriously I'm treated more like a princess _now_ than I was when I was an actual princess - but the more it goes on...the more I'm reminded just how much I _haaaate_ the age of magic and what it did to me and to all of us. We _all_ have our demons we need to kill in order to be truly happy. But you know what? I think we can beat 'em! And do you know how we do that? By moving forward. Look at this place..." She gestured to the entire world around them. From the gorgeous, stunning Mewni sky to the hustling crowds down below, all a mixture of humans, mewmans, and monsters, with most of them seeming to get along with each other, or at least trying. "It's like a clean slate. A fresh start. We can make this world into something _better_ than what we had on Mewni!"

"Yeah, but...can we really?" One of the other monsters who had been quiet up to that point asked out loud.

Star smiled widely. "Of course we can. Sure, it's not going to be a quick fix. But it's worth it, dammit! Oh, that reminds me!" She turned to Eclipsa. "That new playground...is that still on?" Eclipsa nodded, to which Star turned back to the group behind her. "So we're going to be building a brand new playground later this summer, encompassing everything for monsters _and_ people to enjoy! Do you want to help?"

Everyone quietly exchanged looks with each other. It was quite the tempting offer. A clean slate of a world, a chance to make it peaceful and loving, and someone they deeply trust in Star there to help guide them if not outright lead them. With all of this information in mind, they all agreed. Happily. Which delighted Star. "ALRIGHT! That's awesome! We'll be in touch so you guys don't miss it!"

"I'm sure it will be most fulfilling!" Buff Frog declared.

"Thank you guys! We could use all the help we can get."

Star's optimism was only further bolstered - albeit temporarily suspended by surprise - when she found herself being embraced in a cadre of hugs, led by Buff Frog, Slime, & Penelope. "No, Butterfly, thank _you_." All of them took turns thanking Star & wishing her well before deciding to pack it up & leave the area. Now it was just Star, Marco, and the rest of her loved ones left at the mud pits. And first chance they got, Star & Marco embraced again.

Janna, however, decided to speak up & address the elephant in the room. "Alright since nobody's going to ask, I guess I will. Star, what's with the new look?"

Marco pulled away from Star and examined her person. "Oh yeah, I was...I was gonna ask-"

"I...gave myself a bit of a makeover." Star admitted, scratching behind her head.

"You cut your hair." River pointed out. "I can't remember the last time your hair was this short."

"And I see your...what did you call it? Your "punk" phase...has returned." Moon added.

"Kinda, sorta...not really, it's complicated." Pony Head butted in.

"Time out! Your horns!" Marco pointed to the headband Star was wearing, realizing it wasn't her signature devil horn headband that had become part of her signature look. "What happened to them?"

"Oh, relax, they're in my closet. I just...decided I wanted to try something different is all. You know, clean slate, fresh start, all that stuff?"

"...You sure?"

"Come on, Marco, it's still _me_. I just figured, well, we talk all the time about how this world is a chance for _everyone_ to begin again, so I thought...why not _me_?"

Marco sighed. "I guess that makes sense. But I really liked your hair! And those horns looked _nice_ on you!" He playfully whined, causing her to laugh.

"Don't worry, it'll grow back. And I can always just put the horns back on if you're really that _horny_ for them." Her warm smile was enough to lift his spirits.

"Ha ha, _very_ funny. I'm glad you're at least in a good mood, though. Does that mean you had a good day?"

"...Actually, yeah I did. It was...really cathartic."

"How so?"

"It's a _long_ story. How about we go grab dinner and I'll tell you all about it."

"I like the sound of that plan." So they all abandoned the mud pits and went off to find dinner for them. Sure enough, Star had quite a story to tell them all about how her day went...

* * *

**End of Episode 4!**

**Next Time: What _did_ Star do with her day while her loved ones were out touring Echo Creek?**

**So yeah, another episode done and up! And rather quickly too for my standards for this story. Also, announcement: as of this writing, all of my Star vs fanfictions are up on my Wattpad account and are all up to date, with minor changes to some of the chapters here and there. Nothing major, just some dialogue choices and expansions on things I thought of _after_ posting the version. Yeah it's kind of dumb that doesn't let you edit chapters you've already published without having to delete the whole thing but whatever.**

**Anyways, all that to say from now on, if you're on wattpad, you can expect this story to be updated simultaneously on Wattpad when I update it on this site. This way you have two options to read it if one site doesn't do it for you. This concludes this public service announcement.**

**And as always, please read & review!**


	5. Forward Resistance

**Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 5: Forward Resistance**

**Episode Summary: While the Butterflies get a tour of Echo Creek, Star decides to spend her alone time soul-searching, looking for closure and contemplating the next path for her life to take. Everyone else in her life is trying to move on. Why can't she?**

**Original Postdate: January 24, 2020**

* * *

_**Earlier that day...**_

* * *

As Marco left Star's room to join the Butterfly family & Janna for a tour of Echo Creek, Star was left soundly & peacefully asleep under her blankets. Only the sound of her snoring broke the otherwise peaceful silence in the room. A quick round of intimacy with Marco always left her severely relaxed, very often relaxed enough to fall right asleep. Not that either minded. She needed as much rest as possible and Marco thought she was adorable when she slumbered.

Unfortunately, the peace didn't last. Soon enough she found herself loudly grunting & yelling, tossing & turning like mad. The bad dreams were back...

**_[Dream]_**

_**Star found herself locked in an intense fist fight. Her opponent? Herself. Or rather...the image of her mirror reflection, the one that had the Joker voice and was often faded or black in color scheme. The fight, surprisingly, was going well for Star, landing in several blows on her twisted doppelganger and knocking her back onto the ground. For a moment, it seemed like Star had won. She stood over the body of her doppelganger for a moment, loudly panting with sweat dripping from her forehead. The doppelganger did not move.**_

_**Until it did.**_

_**It reached its arms out to Star and grabbed her neck, pulling herself up and then, with a sudden second wind, pick her up & threw Star several feet away, causing her to land hard on the ground. Star had her struggles standing back up. She had a bit of blood dripping from her lips and her body was starting to shake. Her vision blurred. Just a moment earlier she had quite the upper hand on her opponent. Now? She was falling backwards, having forfeited any advantage she once had over her opponent. **_

_**The doppelganger sprinted towards Star, scaring her into hastily standing up and ending up wobbly on her feet as a result. This only resulted in Star getting a nasty uppercut punch to her chin, which was followed by a barrage of flurries to her body all around. Eventually one hard right hook across her face resulted in her collapsing onto the ground again, this time clutching her chest in pain, her heart once again acting up.**_

_**The doppelganger showed no mercy, picking Star up off the ground effortlessly and then kneeing her hard in her abdomen, causing blood & saliva to spit out of her mouth before meeting the doppelganger's fist again with her teeth. Once again she found herself landing on the ground hard. But this time she couldn't get back up. The pain was too great. The doppelganger responded by forcefully slamming one of its feet onto Star's chest, specifically in the place where her heart rested. She let out an ear-splitting scream of pain, one which only crescendo'd in volume the harder the doppelganger pressed. Ever so slowly, it lifted its foot up off her chest, supposedly giving Star a reprieve...only to then slam it down as hard as it physically could back on her chest.**_

_**SLAM**_

_**[End Dream]**_

Star let out another scream, and then she shot straight up in her bed, dripping in sweat and harshly panting. Another bad nightmare. Each one seemingly more frustrating than the last. Every time, she woke up in a fit: difficulty breathing, sweating like she was in a sauna, and of course, now with chest pains. As her breathing stabilized, the room around her became incredibly quiet, with only the sound of her increased - and occasionally irregular - heartbeat filling the air. She looked over at her clock, realizing she had been asleep for about three hours since her intimate round with her boyfriend. But upon looking in that direction, she noticed there was a big box sitting next to her dresser with an envelope attached to it.

She sighed and stepped out of bed, approaching the box. She opened the envelope first: inside was a letter addressed to Star. "_The Ultimate Star Butterfly Home Vacation Care Package."_ She sighed but smiled, continuously flattered at their overdoting on her. However, upon feeling the envelope a second time, she discovered there was something else inside. It turned out there was a wad of cash - and quite a thick one at that - and a smaller post-it note on it. "_Star...spoil yourself. You deserve it. Love, Marco._ Ugh, Marco...why do you have to be such an angel?" She couldn't be upset. He was so nice.

As for what was in the package...well, there was a portable foot bath device, a nice, fancy pink bathrobe & pink fuzzy slippers, brand new feety pajamas, a new beanbag chair, a neck pillow, a brand new eye mask & noise-cancelling headphones, a year-long membership - paid in advance - to the Echo Creek Sleepy Spa, _and_ most surprising of all...a small, but functional television box. Came with the remote and everything. "Ohhhh my gosh..." Needless to say she was left speechless. Her eye wandered from item to item, her mind slowly processing the treasure trove of gifts bestowed on her. She continued reading the letter. "_Dear Star, we know you're going to think this is overkill. And you're probably right. But nobody deserves it more than you." _Tears of pride began to swell in her eyes. "_Remember, you're_ _on vacation. End of story. You deserve it. We're all pulling for you, you're going to come out of this stronger than ever. We all love you, so very much, and we're all so very proud of you. Love always, Mom, Dad, Eclipsa, Globgor...and Marco."_ And there was a big red heart next to Marco's name. The tears were falling, but tears of pride, not sadness. Despite her feelings of unworthiness over this extra affection & care, she was continuously touched by their love.

The first thing she did was try out the foot bath. That combined with the delicious breakfast Marco had made for her and it was almost like a little slice of heaven. She still wasn't wholly fond of the idea of being "on vacation" for such an absurdly extended period of time, which even her loved ones realized. But deep in the pits of her mind she understood they were only trying to do right by her, and nobody could ever say Star wasn't grateful for all the hoops they were jumping through just to help her get back to a place of stability & happiness. Now if only she could help herself get there as well.

After finishing her breakfast & putting away her foot bath, it was time to actually dress herself. So she put on her sky blue sleeveless dress, with her signature white "Bubble Butt" t-shirt _and_ pink leather jacket over it. With her staple devil horn headband on as well, she took the dimensional-traveling ray gun with her and headed towards her bedroom door, aiming to leave and venture outside. But for whatever reason, she was compelled to return to her room. She went over to her closet and opened it up; in the back behind all of her outfits was a small box filled with items. Specifically, these were items that she had been given by Tom over the course of their most recent relationship. Since returning from her getaway with Marco, she had been gathering up these items in the hopes of returning them to him. And a thought occurred to her: why not do it now?

* * *

So that's what she decided to do: she grabbed the box, and with her ray gun, she cut a portal that led to the Lucitor Lake House. She stood right at the front door with the box in hand, sweat starting to drip from her forehead, and it wasn't because of the intense heat. Taking a deep breath, she knocked four times on the door and patiently awaited someone to open it. Eventually, somebody did: Wrathmelior, Tom's mother. Upon seeing that it was Star standing there, she screeched in delight, inviting Star in so she could give her a huge hug. "Hi Mrs. Lucitor!" Star said in between wheezes. "You're crushing me..." She blurted out, which finally prompted Mrs. Lucitor to loosen her grip & put her back down. Wrathmelior's English was never comprehensible, yet somehow everyone always seemed to know what she was trying to say. "I...came to see Tom. Is he in?"

"Star?" Came Tom's voice from the next room. He and his father Dave walked; they were both overly delighted to see Star. "Hey!" The demon boy raced over to his ex and embraced her warmly. "We weren't expecting you."

"Yeah, just stopping by, that's all." She said nervously. Tom noticed the box Star was..you holding in her arms.

"What's with the box...?" A rhetorical question; Tom suspected he knew the answer. But it was better to let Star get it out herself.

"Oh, this...it's nothing. I just..." She walked over to one of the nearby tables and gently set the box down. "I just wanted to return some of your things. You know, since we're not together anymore..." A statement that made Wrathmelior visibly disappointed. "...I figured it didn't make sense to keep these things anymore..." She started to rummage through the box only to be stopped by Tom.

"No! I-I mean, y-you don't have to do this." He said warmly. "I wasn't going to ask for any of it back."

"...you weren't?"

"No, of course not. There's no need."

That sentiment...did not sit very well with her. "Oh...I see. Well, o-okay then."

Tom didn't need any time to pick up on her distress. "...You okay?"

She twiddled her thumbs & shuffled her feet, her vision squarely on the ground. "To be honest...not really. Thing is, I'm just not comfortable having that stuff around anymore. It...it just brings back too many bad memories."

"...Memories of what? Y-You know we're cool, right?"

Again she hesitated. "...Yeah, _we're_ cool, but..._I'm_ not_."_

"Rough day?"

"...More like a rough _every_ day." Wrathmelior expressed concern; word of Star's mental anguish had spread, but very slowly. "I should be over this by now. What's done is done, but..."

"You know he meant well, right?"

"...Huh?"

"Marco...a-at your session, w-when he offered to step back and, uh, I guess let us have another go at it?"

At her session, Marco offhandedly presented Star the option of stepping out of her relationship with him temporarily to re-evaluate her relationship with Tom. In his mind, the Blood Moon and its dumb curse had screwed all three of them and their feelings for each other up to the point where all three of them were constantly questioning their feelings for each other. Marco felt so guilty over it he wanted to give Star a real, unfiltered opportunity to see whether her feelings for him were real, and he was fully prepared to let her go back to Tom if that was what she wanted. Unfortunately, all the offer did was result in Star sobbing hysterically in front of her loved ones, something she desperately didn't want to do. It was a well-meaning gesture that blew up spectacularly in his face.

"If only Marco wasn't so sweet..." Star said just loudly enough for Tom to hear.

"Don't be too mad at him. He thought he was doing you a favor. Guess he figured, you know, the Blood Moon and all of that just confused us all and made us doubt..." His voice trailed off as he caught Star unconsciously shaking her head, viscerally disagreeing with the logic presented to her.

"It wasn't the Blood Moon." She said solemnly. "Marco was right, the Blood Moon curse was a bunch of horsecrap." She took a deep breath. The longer this went on, the more clarity she was getting on certain parts of her life...and the higher the risk of self-loathing as a result of it. "The entire time I was with you...I knew - I **knew** \- I wanted to be with Marco. I just...I always felt _right_ with him, even in some of the hardest times. N-Not that you didn't try, Tom, I just-"

"There's just some people we're better with than others." There was a hint of resignation in his voice, but Tom had long since found peace with moving on from his relationship with her. Now if only _she_ could do the same.

"Yeah...when you broke up with me...there was a sort of relief in me, b-but I-I also knew I deserved it because, let's be honest, I wasn't as good to you as I could've been. A-And then Marco said what he said about not wanting to pursue a relationship with me because it was the Blood Moon that caused us to like each other...ugh, if I had just been _open_ about everything I was feeling with both of you, none of this would've happened. I just wish I could stop beating myself up for this. It's supposed to be _over_, so why can't I move on?"

"I don't know, but I really hope you can make peace with it. You'll be better off for it, I promise. I mean it's not like you can just wave the magic wand to go back and do things differently." Upon hearing the word "magic," Star's face lit up. The wheels in her head were turning. The age of Mewni magic is ov-"

"TOM!" She shouted, the look on her face screaming "epiphany." "That's it! You're a genius!"

He was delighted to see his friend smiling, but nothing was ringing a bell. "I don't understand."

"Okay hear me out...I _always_ used to look for quick fixes to problems, no matter how big or small the problem was. And magic was _always_ there to provide that quick fix. But...none of the quick fixes ever seemed to worse. In fact it always seemed to just make more problems, some of them I didn't even see until later on. And now I don't even _have_ magic to fall back on. It's gone, so...so if I screw it, it'll be a hell of a time trying to undo the damage I do."

Tom patted his ex's shoulder. "Star, you've _always_ tried to do right by everybody. You may not have always succeeded, but you did _try_. A-And look, about that damn Blood Moon..._I_ was the one that hyped it up as some huge deal. I mean I _did_ believe it too, but..."

Star loudly sighed. The closure she was desperately searching for always seemed just out of her reach. "I think it's just...I'm so afraid of doing or saying something wrong, a-and then I'm not able to fix it. What if I blow it with Marco? He's already doing _so_ much for me and I'm doing _nothing_ for him."

"That's because you're benched right now. _He's_ the one that pushed for that, too, you know."

"Trust me, I know. But it's so much...how can I ever repay him, o-or even my family? They're all jumping through so many hoops for me a-and I just feel like it's a debt I can't pay back-"

"But why do you feel like you _have_ to?"

"What do you mean?"

"They're your family. Families take care of each other, no matter what. You don't have to repay _any_ of this. And they'd tell you the exact same thing. And you don't have to "fix" anything between you and me. _We're_ fine. Promise." A smile briefly returned to her face before disappearing again. "Look...there might be things that happen in the world that you just can't fix. It's inevitable. You can't fix everything...or everyone. It's great that you want to try, but for you, _your_ well-being comes first."

"...You're right. I just have a hard time putting that into practice, I guess." She put her hand over her chest. "And now I think I've screwed myself over..."

"Look at it this way: we've got this brand new world in front of us. It's a chance for everyone to get a new start. That includes you. You can _do_ whatever you want to do."

The smile came back. "That's true. I just don't think I _know_ what I really want..."

"You'll figure it out. I know it." He went in to embrace the girl. "I have faith in you. We all do."

Star returned the embrace after brief hesitation. "Thanks, Tom." When they parted, her smile was wider than ever. "I may regret the way our breakup happened, but I don't regret us breaking up. It did put us both on the path to exactly who we wanted to be with. Me with Marco, and you with Janna."

"W-Wha-no! Janna and I are not dating!" Tom huffed angrily, only to sulk and look away. "...yet."

"But you want to be, don't you?"

The demon's face went red with embarrassment. He hesitated in answering. "I-I don't...I don't know."

"Come on, Tom. Admit it: you had more fun and felt more comfortable in that one afternoon on Mewni with Janna than you ever felt with me." He didn't answer, but his lack of response was all the answer she needed. "Listen...I kept everything in and I didn't speak up even when my heart _ached_ knowing that Marco was the one I wanted to be. And me not saying anything almost lost me the both of you. Don't make the same mistake I did with Janna. If you think being in a relationship with her is something _you_ want, you have to tell her."

The boy slowly looked back at Star. "And what if...she _doesn't_ want it?"

"Then that just means there's someone out there even cooler waiting for you. It's okay to be scared, but...Earth has this saying: "you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take." If you don't go for it, you'll spend a long time thinking about what could've been."

Tom nodded, agreeing with the logic. "That makes sense. But I'm a little intimidated."

"Trust me, once you get to really know Janna, she's a total teddy bear."

"Oh not by Janna. I mean I'm intimidated by..." He sighed. "Going through the whole song and dance with you was tough the first time, even harder the second time. I don't know, I guess it just feels like I'm starting over from square one. And people get _joy_ out of just having flings? What are those people thinking?!" Star shrugged as they both shared a laugh.

"But be honest: it feels easier with Janna because...she's actually acted like a friend to you."

"Well so have you, it's not-"

"No I know, I know. But you know what I mean. It's like...it's like with me and Marco. There's just some people you feel infinitely more comfortable with than others. For me, that's Marco. And for you, that's Janna. And that's okay! Believe me, I'm not insulted. I'm _thrilled_ for you, Tom. Honest. I really hope it works out with Janna, and if it doesn't, then you'll just find someone else that's even cooler that it'll work out with."

The two embraced again. "Thanks. And I hope things keep going great between you and Marco. He's a good kid, you both deserve it."

She smiled widely, a big genuine smile that was rare for her in recent weeks. "Thank you. I should get going. OH, wait!" She went for her devil horns headband. "I forgot about these." She went to hand it back to him, but he declined to take them.

"Keep those." He said firmly. "They suit you."

"...Are you sure?" She asked; he nodded happily. She sighed, putting the headband back on. "I _do_ like how these look on me. And between you and me, _so does Marco_." She purred; she _loved_ teasing Marco with how much he loved how she looked with the headband on.

"If dorkiness was a kingdom, you two would be its King & Queen."

The word "queen" made Star slightly cringe, something that Tom picked up on. But the sentiment was still warm enough to get a laugh out of her. They hugged once more. "I'll see you around." She turned to his parents, embracing both of them. "Bye Mr. & Mrs. Lucitor!" She took her ray gun and used it to open up another dimensional portal. She stepped through the portal...

* * *

...and she found herself stepping into the sky. There was no ground immediately under her feet, which meant she found herself suddenly falling towards the ground...several hundred feet down below. Oh dear. Star immediately began screaming, the fear of the inevitable preventing her from thinking clearly; if she had been thinking clearly, she would've tried to open another portal with her ray gun before she hit the ground. But alas, she did not. It didn't matter, though, as just as she was about to hit the ground, she was intercepted by a wolf monster and carried to safety.

Specifically, she was intercepted by...Jorby...Kelly's sparring partner. Jorby carried Star for several feet before coming to a stop, allowing Star to regain her surroundings & step off. Just in time for Kelly to come into the picture, too. "Star!?" She shouted, befuddled at seeing her friend back in her world.

"Kelly!" Star shouted as her friend helped her back to her feet. The two embraced. "Sorry about that! I wasn't planning on dropping in like that, no pun intended."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken up. I was trying to go home, but this thing..." She showed off the ray gun. "Took me here for some reason."

"Well, you're here. Wanna stick around for a while? Jorby and I were just about to have a little sparring match, you're welcome to watch."

"Oh, uh, sure. Sounds great." So Star took a seat off to the side in a grass pouch and made herself comfortable, while Kelly & Jorby set themselves up for a round of sparring. It was a standard, no holds bar sparring match, one that initially piqued Star's interest. Unfortunately, it didn't stay for very long. Just a few minutes into their sparring match, Star found herself distracted...by herself. "Go Kelly!" Star shouted, which was the last thing she managed to squeak out before the dark clouds came back.

"**_That should be_**_** you.**" _A voice in her head roared. The Joker-esque voice had returned again.

"What? Me? Fight Jorby?"

"_**No, fool. The other one.**_"

"...Kelly? You think I should be fighting _her_?"

"_**You don't think she doesn't have unfinished business with you?"**_

"Oh, what now?"

"_**Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. You stole her boyfriend!"**_

Star's face began twitching & sweating. "...her what? Oh god, you're not talking about Marc-look, whoever you are! I didn't _steal_ anything. I had _nothing_ to do with that."

"_**Why else would he leave her for you!?"**_

"I never interfered with that! I had _no_ problem with Marco going out with Kelly! We were trying to get over each other, why would I be mad about that?!"

"_**Because you wanted him. You even said so yourself."**_

Star could feel her blood boiling. "Of course I did, but I wasn't going to try to sabotage them just to make _me_ happy."

"**_You did with Jackie__,__ t__hough."_**

"Um, _noooo_ I didn't. I _**LEFT**_ Earth, remember? To go fight Toffee. I only told Marco how I felt because I was convinced I was never going to see him again."

"_**You're not foolin' anyone, sweetheart."**_

She began loudly growling. Once again her mind was choosing the worst time to betray her. "You know what? I've had just about enough of _you_! Why do you keep getting under my skin!? Why can't you just shut up and leave me alone!?" She clutched her head, desperate to make the Joker-esque voice disappear. In her fit, she missed that both Kelly and Jorby had ceased their sparring match and approached her, concerned for her well being.

"...Star?" Kelly slowly reached out and tapped her shoulder, causing her to yelp & jolt up. "It's okay, it's just us."

After some hard panting, she began slowing her breathing, calmness returning to her. "S-Sorry. Was I talking out loud again?"

Both Kelly and Jorby exchanged silent looks with each other, leaving Star to silently contemplate internally. "Hey, why don't we go grab some Goblin Dogs?"

The mere mention of Goblin Dogs perked Star up significantly. "S-Sure, sounds good to me."

So the three of them went off; they found a nearby Goblin Dog truck with a significantly long line. The long line meant an extended wait, but it also provided an opportunity for Kelly & Star to talk. "You okay?" Kelly asked, noticing Star's somber mood.

The girl looked Kelly in the eye and shrugged. "Meh. I've been...off for a while now."

"Yeah, your friends tried to explain it to me when they brought me to Earth...Mewni...w-what are you guys calling it now?" Another shrug. "I don't really think it all sunk in, though. Maybe it'd help if you laid it out for me. You know, what's actually wrong with you at the moment."

"It'd be a lot easier to tell you what's _not_ wrong with me."

"...Oof."

"You said it. I can describe how much I hate how things are with me right now in three simple words: _mandatory sick days._"

"Oh wooooow, it's _that_ bad?"

"If I went into explicit detail, we'd be here long after the Goblin Dog truck closed."

"Gosh. I'm sorry you're having a rough time right now."

Star was left bewildered. "...why are _you_ apologizing? _I'm_ the one who should be apologizing."

"...you? For what?"

"You know _exactly_ what." She said firmly, taking Kelly by surprise. Sure she _knew_ what Star was referring to, but she didn't agree at all.

"You realize you're being silly, right?"

"_Am_ I? C'mon, Kelly, we both know the only reason Marco broke up with you was _me_."

Kelly blinked twice silently before breaking out into laughter. "W-Wait, is that what he told you?"

"Told me? He...Actually, he never really said anything about it to me."

"So...he didn't talk about me?"

"Oh no no he talked about you _all the time_. He had nothing but awesome things to say about you. It was just the breakup that he didn't have anything to say...though I feel like he didn't really need to."

"Do you _honestly_ think you're the reason we broke it off?" Kelly was genuinely surprised at the level of self-loathing Star was displaying. And she hadn't seen anything yet.

"You mean it wasn't?"

"It's...it's complicated." Kelly took in a few deep breaths. It was story time. "When we started going out, I was still trying to move on from Tad. He was being kind of a jackass about our breakup. He found this self-help group and he kept bugging me with calls bragging about how well he's moved on from me. I don't know if he was trying to be a douche or if he was lying but it really got under my skin. Marco helped...er, _distract_ me from that for a while."

"He's _super_ cute, isn't he?"

"Totally. And he _was_ a lot of fun to hang out with while we were together."

"He just has a way of making you feel special and important."

"He does. And he did every single day that we were together."

"So, then, what made you guys break up?"

"The short version is...we just realized that...we got together for all the wrong reasons."

"...What do you mean-"

"See, I started doing to Tad what Tad did to me. I called him up out of the blue and I would brag to him about how I was in a relationship with Marco. And I got way too much pleasure in rubbing it in his face." In their talk, it almost passed them that the line had moved up. "I'm not sure if it ever bothered him or not...to be honest we really haven't spoken that much in a while. But...it did bother Marco."

"It did?"

Kelly nodded. "One time he kinda called me out on it. Actually, he used _you_ as an example."

"...Me?" Star's eyes spooked open. Marco using Star as an example of good behavior? Had he lost his marbles?

"He mentioned how you never had a problem with him when he was dating someone on Earth...I think "Jackie" was her name?"

"Jackie Lynn Thomas." Star spelled out, with infatuation evident in her inflections. Subtly was not a part of her dictionary, and Kelly pounced on this.

"Is that the other girl with the leather jacket?" Star nodded. "The one you're crushing on right now?" Kelly said smugly, waking Star up from her trance and causing her face to go red with blush.

"Who squealed? Was it Janna?" The embarrassment on Star's face was palpable as her blush only grew. Kelly laughed again, causing Star to break out into laughter as well, which helped ease the tension.

"Hey don't sweat it, your secret's safe with me. Marco never has to find out."

"Oh don't worry, he already knows." The fact that Star could say that so nonchalantly and calmly left Kelly shocked. Their relationship was simultaneously so complex and so simple it was truly a marvel. "Truth is I kinda _did_ have a problem with it. But I could never say anything. He had feelings for her for years before I even came into the picture. Now all of a sudden I drop in and start liking him? I couldn't do that to him. _Or_ to her."

"She told me there wasn't any ill-will on her end."

"Of course not. That's because Jackie's _cool_. _And hot._" She whispered under her breath.

"I heard that."

And more red shade on her face. "But just because she isn't upset by it doesn't mean I'm not. Maybe I shouldn't be anymore, but I am."

"But she's fine. _I'm_ fine. We're all fine...except for-"

"Me. I mean I _will_ be eventually, it's just taking its time. Turns out I've got a _lot_ of baggage I need to work through. A lot of emotional, psychological, _and_ physical ailments..." Upon saying "physical," she put her hand over her chest and visibly winced, catching Kelly's eye. "that are weighing me down. If I had to go through and list all of them out we'd be here all day."

"Oof, I'm sorry about that."

"Meh, it is what it is. You have to make the best of it, no matter how badly you want to kick yourself for some of the stupid things you've done or some of the stupid things you _think_ you've done. Besides, it's not _all_ bad. I _have_ gotten to learn a lot of neat things about myself that I wouldn't have learned otherwise."

"I've noticed..." Kelly said, quietly directing their attention to Star's t-shirt. Which Star easily picked up on.

"You like it?" Star purred, taking off her leather jacket and allowing a full, unobstructed view of the words written on it. Kelly laughed, but the people that were behind Star in line...they laughed even harder at the "Property of Marco Diaz" arrow pointing downward on the back of her shirt. When Star turned around to face those people, Kelly got a front row seat to the back of her shirt, and she burst out into harder laughter. Star, meanwhile, had a gigantic idiotic grin on her face, reveling in it. She turned back to Kelly after a few moments. "Just for the record, this was _my_ idea, not Marco's."

"I totally believe that."

"I mean he _did_ get the ball rolling but I just grabbed it and ran with it. Like I do with most things."

"He did?" She asked; Star nodded. "I _knew_ it. I _knew_ he saw you in that light!"

"Oh you don't even know the half of it. And you won't either, because that's between us."

"Hey, if it works for you guys, that's all that matters."

"True dat."

A few moments of silence passed as the line continued to progress. They were almost near the front of the line before Star decided to speak again. "Y-You know what, I think I'm gonna head out."

"You sure? We're almost to the front."

"Yeah but I'm...not really hungry, to be honest. A-And I really just came to talk and get some things off my chest."

"Do you feel better about things now?"

Star briefly hesitated with her answer. "...kinda, sorta, not really...? I don't know. I'm just glad I finally got the chance to apologize."

"Even though you really didn't have to?"

After a brief moment of silence, she nodded. "I'll see you around." She meekly smiled and stepped out of line, running off in the opposite direction waving at Kelly. Once she was away from the line of people, she cut open another portal with her ray gun and stepped through.

* * *

The portal took her back to Earth-Mewni, right outside of her rage room shed. What a stroke of luck. Though Star got some form of closure that she had been seeking, it still didn't feel like enough. And even though she left her encounter with both Tom _and_ Kelly with a weight seemingly lifted off her shoulders, upon returning to her home work, a new weight returned. A vicious cycle that perfectly encapsulated the daily struggle Star underwent in her recovery from everything afflicting her. Luckily she had much healthier outlets now for her frustrations & aggression, from her therapy sessions to her rage room.

Today it was time to unleash her fury in the rage room. She busted through the door and grabbed the big inflatable doll - now dressed more to look like Star - and slammed it hard onto the ground. She leaped on top of it and began wailing on it, throwing her fists at its head and occasionally grabbing the neck of the doll and bashing it against the ground. At times she would also lift it off the ground and slam it against the walls repeatedly, letting out a ear-splitting scream with each slam.

"What! Is! The! Matter! With! You!" Star screamed, enunciating each word with each punch to the doll. "Stop being such a screw-up already! Why can't you just forgive yourself like everyone else has!? Why do you have to be such a f-"

"B-Fly?"

The shrill, simple voice of Star's other best friend managed to reverberate through the shed just loudly enough for Star's attention to be drawn away. The girl looked away from the inflatable doll and at the door to see none other than Pony Head floating at the entrance, a look of worry across her face...as well as some makeup on her face _and_ a gold chain hanging around her...neck. "PONY HEAD!" Despite her suddenly somber attitude, she was absolutely delighted to see her floating there.

"Yo girl I've been, like, looking for you all over town. I passed by your family & Diaz but you weren't with them. Thought something like totally whack happened to you."

"No, I'm fine, I guess. Just taking some alone time to try to figure things out..." Her voice trailed as she noticed Pony Head's new look. "Hey, did you get a makeover or something?"

"Oh yeah, so I, like, just felt like changing things up. You know, try a new coat of paint or something. I feel fly, girl, like you wouldn't even believe!"

Star got a laugh out. "You _do_ look fresh, Pony. Hmm, a makeover..." She went into a brief moment of intense thought. "Maybe a new look is what I need."

"I seen yo closet, B-Fly. You've got an entire clothes department in it!"

"You think it'll help?"

"What'cha got to lose?"

"I like your logic Pony Head!"

So the two of them made their way back into the castle and up to Star's room. Pony Head got a first look at Star's improved room, including her new mattress. "Dang, girl, this thing is _sooooft_." Pony Head commented. Star chuckled.

"Yeah, isn't it great? It's almost as soft as the mattress Marco and I had on our getaway. _Almost_."

"So is it true, then?"

"...what?"

"That you and the Earth kid..."

Didn't take more than that for Star to pick up on her question. She smiled widely at her friend. "Oh yeah. We did."

"I knew it! I knew it was only a matter of time, girl!" Pony Head shouted as Star stepped into her closet and closed it behind her, rummaging for outfits to try on. "So was he any good?"

"You kidding? He was _wonderful_." The pure joy in her voice came through the closed door. "It was everything I could've imagined and more." The door opened shortly after; she stepped out wearing a bright yellow dress with rose pedals all over it, yellow leggings with pink stripes, and yellow boots with pinks rose buds on the tips of the toes. "Okay, what do you think?"

Pony Head studied the new outfit for a moment. "I like it, but are you _feeling_ it, girl?"

Star too studied her new outfit, coming to the conclusion that she did not. "...Not really, no." And so she went back into the closet, coming out a short time later with a new outfit: a red dress with the sleeves designed in a way so that it appeared like they were extremely long gloves that she could slip her hands into, also designed to have a blazer-like look in the back. The outfit also had red & white leggings & white boots with red lightning-like stripes on them. "I don't know about this one..."

"Naw, girl, that thing clashes."

"...Yeah, you're right."

After a few more outfit changes, Star came out of the closet with a bold new one: a dark indigo leather jacket - with "Star Butterfly" still engraved on the back - a black "Star Bubble Butt Butterfly" t-shirt with big white letters, the purple dress she had bought on her getaway with Marco, along with black leggings & black boots with dark indigo stars painted by the toes of the boots. "What do you think?"

"Hmm...I don't know, seems too "punk-ish" for me."

Star began to turn herself towards the mirror, only to stop herself and rethink things. She reached for her phone and and stuck her arm out. "Hey, will you take a picture of me? I need to see what I look like."

"Um, yo why don't you, like, just use your mirror? It works fi-" Pony Head stopped herself, reconsidering her word choice as well as the implications of her question. "Oh oh okay, I see. Yeah sure, hand that baby over." Star handed Pony Head the phone; she snapped a photo of Star in her new getup and handed it back to her. Star studied the photo for a brief moment. It was the first outfit out of all the ones she had tried that that legitimately piqued her interests.

"You know what? I...I like it."

Pony Head raised an eyebrow. "For real? Yo but it, like, it don't even work, the purple clashes with everything."

The girl observed the purple dress under her black attire. "Good point. Don't worry, I have a solution!" She ran back to her closet and closed it behind her. Behind it the sounds of a spray can going off could be heard. Curious, Pony Head floated over to the door and began to open it. "OCCUPIED!" Star shouted, causing Pony Head to retreat back. After another minute passed, the door reopened, and Star stepped out. Now her attire was fully dark indigo/black; she had spray painted the dress to be dark indigo to match the rest of the outfit. "Ta-da!"

Again Pony Head raised an eyebrow. "You sure about this, B-Fly?"

"...I am, actually." Star turned back to her mirror and studied herself, gradually warming up to the look. "I don't know _why_, but I'm really liking how this looks on me. But something still feels...off." She studied her entire body through the mirror, examining each part of her person and searching for an answer. Eventually that answer came when she started feeling her hair. Something in her head clicked. "Okay, give me two minutes." She raced out of the room and towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Once in the bathroom, she reached into one of the drawers and pulled out an electric shaver.

A few moments after that, she finally returned to her room to reveal her fully completed new look. Her gold flowing locks were now gone, replaced by a very short haircut with only a few locks hanging down from the back. You could nearly pick Pony Head's jaw off from the ground. "YOOOO B-FLY, WHAT'CHA THINKIN'!? That hair was _you_, girl!"

Star shrugged meekly. "It'll grow back."

"I don't even recognize you now!"

Another shrug. "To be honest...I wasn't recognizing myself with my old look anymore. Thought it was time to try something new for a bit." Upon finishing her sentence, she looked up at her headband and slowly removed it, studying it for a full minute.

"Oh no no, girl, not your horns. Not your horns!" Pony Head begged. But Star was too far lost in her trance. She walked over to her closet and began rummaging around, eventually settling on another headband, this one black with two shimmering gold stars in the places where here horns were on the other band. She took off her horns and set them gently on the shelf while placing the new headband on, stepping out of the closet and showing them off to Pony Head. "...o-oh hold the phone. Hold the phone, that's...I like that! I can work with this."

"I've had this headband for so long, I don't think I've ever regularly worn it. Guess there's a first time for everything, though."

"You _sure_ about this, girl?"

"Pony, it's still _me_. _I'm_ still me. I'm just a bit of a different me now."

"Alright, just don't say I didn't warn you. So what'cha gonna do now?"

"Let's go find everyone. This town's only so big, they couldn't have gone that far."

* * *

So off they went on a search to find Marco, the Butterflies, and Janna. For the first hour, the search proved fruitless. The two of them hit up all of the old spots Star used to spend all her time at - Echo Creek Academy, Britta's Tacos, etc - but each time they got to the spot _just_ after the others had left, always being just a few minutes behind. But their luck finally changed when they went to the Mud Pits. While heading towards them, they managed to catch a glimpse of the group by the pits, having a chat with another group of monsters/mewmans/humans. "Hey, there they are!" Pony Head said, her and Star edging closer to them. As they closed in, they could start to hear parts of their conversation.

"_NO! __It...it wasn't suicide. Honest_." She could hear Marco say. The word "suicide" caused Star to stop dead in his tracks, and once Pony Head realized Star wasn't walking with her anymore, she too stopped and turned to observe her friend.

"B-Fly?" She took note of the girl's increasingly grimacing face. The two decided to stay out of sight for the time being and listen in to the rest of the conversation.

"_She hid it well...until she didn't. Everything just compounded on her...turning over the throne, having to basically be the one to train her replacement while also running everything behind the scenes, the coronation, personal stuff..._"

Pony Head turned to her friend. "Yo, is that why you were always snippy like you had ants in your pants?"

"Yeah, it is. I wasn't just molding Eclipsa into a queen, I was literally running the entire kingdom too because she _couldn't_." Star sighed & cupped her eyebrows. 'I love Eclipsa like a grandma but she was _not_ cut out to be queen."

"Dang."

"You have no idea how happy I was to finally get _away_ from all that after her coronation."

"Is that why you had that meltdown or something?"

"That's...part of it, yeah."

"So, like, what's the deal now with you?"

"Ugh, if I had to list out _everything_ that they told me was wrong with me, we'd be here all night."

"Ouch."

"Yup. I am a total hot mess."

"Sorry, B-Fly."

"Thanks."

_"I suppose a part of me always...resented...how quickly our kingdom came to accept and love Eclipsa as their ruler."_

_"I wouldn't say they "loved" her..."_

Their attention returned to the conversation between their friends & the others, and the turn that it took would prove to touch Star's ever-slowly-failing heart.

_"You'd be surprised at how fast news spreads."_

_"You mean...the conspiracy...Star giving the throne back..."_

_"Yep. All of it."_

_"And not just your kingdom either. All of the kingdoms heard. And I think...I think a lot of acceptance for Queen Eclipsa wasn't out of love for her, but for respect for Star. I don't think anyone was really happy about the change or the circumstances, but everyone pretty much agreed: Star was in a lose-lose situation no matter what she did, and believe it or not, people were not particularly happy with the Magic High Commission after that conspiracy came out."_

The line of dialogue presented left Star completely shocked; their conversation heavily implied that despite Eclipsa being the official queen and the one out on the frontlines, everyone seemed to be well aware that it was Star who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, trying desperately to keep things running smoothly while Eclipsa grew into the role. The truth was that this was something she had never realized: that people knew just how much work she was putting in behind the scenes. Tears began to slowly well up in her eyes. Tears of joy, tears of pride...tears of shame. "They...they knew it was me all along." She said softly.

"You're welcome, girl." Pony Head said, gently nudging her friend's arm.

"Wait...you helped spread that around?"

Her question left Pony Head annoyed. "Hey, you told me you watched every episode of The Pony Head Show. Why'd you lie!?" And her response was absolutely not what Star was expecting. "If you _did_ you would've seen me hyping you to heck and back trying to keep the peace and all that!"

Now Star was left embarrassed. "...S-Sorry. I was too dang busy with Eclipsa."

"_A_ likely story." Pony Head was unimpressed, but quickly softened her tone when she caught her friend visibly distraught over the news. "Hey, don't worry, I can't stay mad at you."

"At least _one_ of us can say that." Star said somberly, with Pony Head responding with another gentle nudge.

_"My entire identity has been centered around being Queen. River and I ruled Mewni for so long that I pretty much forgot how to be...well, anything else. I had nothing going for me, not even...being a mother."_

And Star's heart broke yet again. Apparently Star wasn't the only one who wished Moon had been more of a mother to her than she had been. "Aww, Mom...I guess that's why she and everyone have been doting on me so much..."

"About time they did!" Her friend expressed. "Talk about overdue."

Star could only muster a shrug. "I seem to be the only one that thinks otherwise..."

_"And now you feel like you owe it to her to...make her feel like she did earn it."_

_"She did earn it. More than I've ever properly acknowledged."_

Even more heartache & sadness for Star, who had to fight back against the tears. In her eyes, her mother owed her no such praise or affection. But it was an argument she would always lose. Especially with Marco leading the charge.

"_She needed...she **needs** a break."_

Despite the fact that she and her loving boyfriend had recently returned from two weeks completely away from everything and everyone, Marco was still adamant that it wasn't enough, and he was hellbent on ensuring that Star's "vacation" was extended for a significantly long time; by Marco's own words, a fair length would be at a minimum the time she spent working overtime with Eclipsa: approximately six months. Added on the additional few months Star was just general peacemaker after returning to Mewni post Toffee, and she was looking at close to if not over a full calendar year of "vacation mode." Thus the ever-increasing doting on her, the ever-increasing extra affection displayed to her, the gifts, the care, the intended reprieve from most if not all political activity, and most especially, the increased praise for all the good she's done and tried to do. And Star was correct, she was the _only_ person that seemed to think it wasn't deserved. And she _detested_ that she felt this way.

_"The way I see it, she deserves a vacation just as long as she spent doing all of that, if not longer!"_

Marco's passion & dedication to her never ceased to wow her, but it also never ceased to make her emotional. She felt wholly unworthy of such affection, and yet every chance they've gotten recently, they doubled down. This truly _was_ a new era for them, one that Star continued to struggle to embrace.

"That boy..." Pony Head turned to Star. "That boy's a keeper." She said with a wink, which delighted the girl.

_"It most certainly feels like...we do owe a debt of gratitude to her."_

_"We all do."_

**That** was the line that finally snapped Star out of her silence. "No you don't!" She yelled, instantly gaining everyone's attention as she began second-guessing herself.

* * *

_**And now...**_

* * *

After their brief talk at the Mud Pits, Star, her family, Pony Head, Marco, and Janna all took a walk back towards the castle, taking in the scenery as the sun set on the beautiful Earth-Mewni sky. "So...Star..." Marco awkwardly broke the silence. "That's...that's a look for you..."

"Be honest, Marco: you don't like it, do you?" Star asked, opening her leather jacket to show off her t-shirt. Despite the palette change she was still quite proud to show off her "Bubble Butt" nickname.

"I-It's the hair. It's just...so weird seeing it so short." He admitted. "I'm not used to it."

"Don't worry, it'll grow back. I just...I just felt like trying something new is all. You know, a new start, that stuff."

"I dig it." Janna blurted out. "It's sleek, it's hip, it's sharp. I could see this working for you."

The butterfly squealed in delight and took a moment to show herself off. "You really like it?" She said rather flirtatiously to Janna. Janna nodded in response.

"Oh yeah. But...not like _that_."

Star stopped, appearing slightly disappointed. "Oh...well give it time. You might change your mind." She winked at her, which got Marco to laugh but Janna to appear confused.

"So how was _your_ day, pumpkin?" Eclipsa asked, changing the subject.

"It was...it was interesting. I got to do a lot of...reflection about myself, I guess."

"Did you find that care package we left for you?"

Star rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Yes, Eclipsa, I found it."

"Did you get to try the foot bath?" Marco asked. Star nodded.

"Uh-huh. It...it was really nice. But you didn't have to do any of that for me."

"Pfft. It was no trouble, really. And don't you worry, there's _plenty_ more where that came from." He leaned in & kissed her cheek. Despite her apprehensiveness about the special treatment, she _did_ appreciate it and she truly wanted to embrace it fully. "Anything exciting happen?"

"Actually, I...I kinda did some soul-searching today. Tried to get some closure on some things and try to quell a lot of the self-hate in me."

"Did it work?"

Star hesitated with her answer. How could she know if it worked _this_ soon? "I...I'm not sure. I mean I _feel_ a little better about things, but not really as good as I hoped I would."

"Hey, at least you're moving in the right direction." Marco reassured her.

"I guess...I just wish I didn't feel like such a burden all the time."

The boy embraced her tightly as they continued walking. "You know you're not, right?"

"I suppose I _know_ it, but I...I don't believe it sometimes. Especially after hearing the nice things everyone had to say about me..."

They stopped in their tracks as Marco again hugged her, keeping himself locked in an embrace for several minutes. The gentle breeze of the evening sky flew through their short hair and enveloped them in an aura of tranquility that was rare for Star these days. "I told you..._everyone_ is pulling for you."

"I guess I just didn't realize just how much of an impact I've left on all of them. I didn't know they knew I was basically the shadow queen of Mewni."

"And you were a _wonderful_ shadow queen, sweetie." Eclipsa added. Star blushed.

"Thanks." Despite her continued apprehension the girl couldn't help but smile at the compliment.

"So...whatcha gonna do now?" Pony Head inquired. Star took a moment to think it over.

"I...I'm not sure. I feel like I should be jumping back into things around here, but...I'm not sure I _want_ to either, a-and that scares me."

Marco stopped her in her tracks and consoled her. "Look, I'm sorry we've been going overboard with doting on you a-and trying to give you a good home vacation."

"Aww, don't be like that. I know you all mean well. I'm not even talking about that, really."

"Then...what's bugging you?"

"It's not so much I _don't_ want to be involved with the political stuff...I just don't think I have any business butting in any more since...well I haven't really been as successful trying to mend the racial fences as I thought I would be. I know they all had those nice things to say about me, and I appreciate all of them, but-"

"Hey," Janna cut in, also approaching Star to console her. "Maybe you're just thinking too big."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: most governments aren't actually designed to work for the people. You might _think_ that they are, but you'd be wrong. And trying to work from within your government to help your people - more often than not - ends in disappointment." Janna turned to Star's family. "No offense."

"None taken." River immediately said with no hesitation. And despite the slightly annoyed glare from Moon, he doubled down. "Oh come now, Moon Pie, we all know she's right."

Even Moon wasn't in the mood to debate that. She sighed and shook her head. "I am _so_ happy we're not the ruling body any longer."

"I _feel_ that, Mom." She turned back to Janna. "So what's your point?"

"All I'm saying is maybe you should do things on a smaller scale from now on. You wanna help people? Awesome, but you're not going to be able to help _everybody_, and try to go full throttle on thousands, if not millions of hostile people that may not even be interested in changing their mindsets is only going to make you go crazy. But just helping a few people at a time? You'd be surprised at how much of a difference that makes, not just to them, but for you too. Think of it this way: when you have a pet, that pet is just a tiny fraction of your world. But to that pet? _You're_ their whole world."

The analogy touched something in Star and spurned an emotional reaction. "That's beautiful...but where would I even start?"

"You could get a part-time job, or just do some volunteer work. There's loads of small business or charities that work for good causes that could use some help."

"Oh Star that sounds like a fabulous idea!" Eclipsa exclaimed.

"You'd fit in _perfectly_ like that." Globgor added. "Anyone that takes you in would be getting a massive upgrade."

"D'aww, you guys..."

"We'd be happy to help you look around and see what works for you." Marco chimed in, hugging Star tightly. "But are you sure this is what you want to do? We just don't want you to exhaust yourself, that's all. You _are_ technically still on vacation..."

"You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"Nope."

She lovingly sighed. "Well I _am_ enjoying the idea of this "vacation" you guys are setting me up on...or at least I _want_ to enjoy it. But I also like helping people. It gives me a lot of satisfaction, but-"

She was stopped again by Marco, who gently leaned in & kissed her, allowing all of her stress to temporarily evaporate. "You'll figure it out. You've always figured it out in the past, and I know you'll figure it out again. We'll all help you any way we can. You just have to take it one day at a time." She nodded, accepting the logic and returning the hug & kiss. "So what do you want to do right now?"

"Promise you won't get upset if I'm honest?" Marco hesitated, surprised at her response, but he nodded. "I...I think I want to go to bed."

"Why would we be upset at that?"

"You guys don't mind?"

"Of course not, sweetheart." Moon approached her, knelling down to hug her. "We know you're trying to put on a brave face for us all, but...you look positively exhausted." She noted Star's slightly bloodshot eyes & the faint dark circles around them. It didn't really matter how much sleep she got, she was still perpetually exhausted thanks to _all_ of the stress heaped onto her over the last year plus. But extra sleep certainly didn't her. She put a hand over her chest, implying a pain in her heart.

"I _feel_ it." She admitted. "It'll be nice to change out of these and crawl into something more comfy." She reached for Marco's hand. "Hey Marco, how about we get a head start? Your place tonight, right?"

"U-Uh, s-sure." The boy said, flustered and blushing while noting her flirtatious grin. "Y-You sure you're up for it?"

"Of course. I might be a different Star, but it's still the same bubble butt you want _all_ to yourself." She purred while gently pulling his arm towards her. "And don't you _dare_ hold back, mister. Trust me, I'll know." On that note, the two of them started running towards Marco's house, laughing and giggling the whole way through. All the while, the others looked on with mixed emotions flooding their minds.

"I'm...worried." Moon said softly, though Janna managed to hear her. And she had a completely different response.

"...I'm not." She said, proudly looking on as Star & Marco playfully roughhoused each other while heading back to the boy's house.

**End of Episode 5!**

**Wow. This is the single longest chapter I've ever written for _any_ story ever. Clocking in at over 10,000 words! And to think this isn't even two weeks after my last update. **

**Anyways, please visit both my page AND my wattpad page to read my Star vs fanfictions, spread the word & circulate the links! I can't guarantee another fast update like this one but who knows what'll happen?  
**

**And as always please make sure to read & review! **


	6. Babies' Night Out

**Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 6: Babies' Night Out**

**Episode Summary: A peaceful night on Earth-Mewni is interrupted when both Mariposa and Meteora escape from their respective homes, forcing the Diazes and Butterflies to team up to rescue them. **

**Original Postdate: February 7, 2020**

* * *

The nightfall that followed the Earth-Mewni toured began just as any other peaceful night would: with everyone safely in their homes or in their beds, peacefully enjoying the calm serenity of the night. Star & Marco were no exception. Stationed at Marco's house tonight & wrapped tightly under his blankets, Marco was enjoying a nice, peaceful slumber resting closely & snugly next to his girlfriend. And while Star was unfortunately having a hard time falling asleep, she was at least enjoying gazing at her sleeping boyfriend. His faint snoring was the only noise to fill the room, his chest peacefully rising and falling with each breath.

In a mirror to Marco's actions on their getaway, Star scooched herself very close to him and wrapped her arms around him, gently embracing him, nuzzling her cheek against his. The quiet hug didn't last long, though. Marco began to fuss around before opening his eyes, catching Star warmly hugging him closely. He couldn't help but smile. "Hey." He said quietly. She heard him and turned to face him.

"...I'm sorry, I didn't make to wake you." She whispered.

"Hey, it's okay. You don't need to ask my permission for a hug." He instantly wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug. "Bad night?"

"...kinda...I'm just feeling a bit...clingy."

He pulled away slightly so he could face her, all before going in and kissing her gently. "It's _okay_, I promise."

"I just...really like being this close to you, that's all. You're so warm and gentle, a-and these days being with you like this is the only time where I just feel..._right_. I love you so much, Marco."

"I love you too. It's all going to be okay." He wrapped her tightly & enticed her in a passionate kiss, one that lasted several minutes. One that temporarily melted Star's anxieties. But the kiss ended prematurely when she heard some faint moaning outside; it seemed to be coming from the hallway. She pulled away from Marco to listen intently. "...what's wrong?" The boy whispered.

"...I must be hearing things, I coulda sworn I heard something in the halls."

"What did it sound like?"

"It...it sounded like Mariposa."

Marco went bug-eyed and instantly sat up, joining Star in listening intently to the hallway. Indeed there was another moaning sound, and it sounded strikingly similar to that of baby Mariposa. "I-I think you're right. Let's go check." He started to get out of the bed, but he had to be stopped.

"Marco!" Star shouted, covering her mouth instantly. "_Maybe we should dress first._" She whispered; in his rush the boy had forgotten that earlier in the night the two of them had their escapade & had fallen asleep immediately afterwards. Dressing was the appropriate action at the immediate moment. He agreed and the two of them quickly threw on their sleepwear & slippers. They opened the door and found little Mariposa, blanket in hand, sitting on her knees with her back turned to them, looking around as if she was a deer in headlights. "...Mariposa?"

The baby reacted but did not turn her head towards them. She continued shaking her head back and forth in a confused manner. Marco slowly approached his sister & picked her up off the ground, turning her to face them. Seeing her brother - and Star in particular - staring back at her managed to draw a giggle from her. "Hi there, you little angel." Marco said in a cute tone. "Whatcha doin out here all by yourself? How'd you even get out of your crib?" Mariposa responded with her attempt at a shrug. Despite having the appearance of a baby only a few months old, the sixteen years she spent in the Neverzone with Meteora (in the episode **Gone Baby Gone**) allowed her to progress her development as a baby more quickly than most babies. Though she couldn't talk as of yet, she was already crawling _and_ could at least respond to questions directly with body movements.

"Man she's cute." Star said. "I wonder if your parents noticed." Star walked over to the room of Marco's parents, creaking the door open slightly. The two adults were still soundly asleep in their bed, none the wiser. The crib next to the bed did not appear any worse for the wear, meaning that somehow Mariposa managed to climb up the wall and out all on her own. Star closed the door behind her. "Nope, those two are out like a light. I'm kinda jealous..." She lamented just how screwed up her own sleep schedule was at the moment. Either she slept for most of the daylight or she didn't sleep at all. There was _no_ in between.

"What's the matter?" Marco said to his sister. "You need to be changed?" He examined her and determined that she did not. "Nope. You hungry?" His question elicited no clear response from the baby, just light moaning and a slightly cocked head. "Do you want to come sit with me for a while?" Marco looked at his girlfriend. "Star why don't you go back to sleep? I'll sit up with Mariposa."

Star instantaneously dismissed that idea. "No way. We're in this together, Diaz. Besides, it'll be good practice for us when we finally have our own kids."

"We're too yo-"

"I'm not saying _now_! I'm saying _eventually._ Dude, seriously." The two of them took Mariposa back to their room and plopped back onto Marco's bed. The time passed by calmly, with Marco & Star taking turns playing with the baby and keeping her spirits high. "I hope one day you know just how lucky you are to have Marco as your big brother." Star said to the little girl. "You're lucky to have a sibling as sweet, caring, and innocent as this beautiful boy."

"D'aww, you're making me blush." Marco said back, pecking his girlfriend's cheek.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"If I did you'd never let me hear the end of it." They shared a laugh.

"Well everyone knows I'm right about that. You're a true sweetheart and I'm so lucky to have you."

"That goes double for me." And then they shared a kiss. "Hey, since we're both up anyway..."

A sly smile crept onto Star's face. Marco needed not to say anything further. "Really? With the baby in here with us?"

"I'm sure she'll fall back asleep soon. Maybe being in here with us will help sooth her back to dreamland."

"I wish _I_ could go to dream land..." Star lamented.

"What do you mean? You sleep way more now than you ever did as Princess."

"I said "dreamland," Marco. Not "sleepland." I'd like to go _one_ night without having nightmares..."

Marco's face fell. "...I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."

"One of these days I'll be back to my normal self. But for now, I'll find other ways to get by, like _this_..." She pulled the blankets of the bed over the two of them, giggling in the process. "Come on, Diaz, I can see that twinkle in your eye."

"Yeah but not while she's watch..." Marco turned to address his baby sister, only to find that she had fallen on her side and appeared fast asleep, calmly sucking her thumb. "...Huh. That was...easy."

"Maybe she figured out we wanted to have some private time?" Star theorized. "She's very observant."

"Star, she's a baby."

"...who spent 16 years in the Neverzone just like _you_ did. And like how _you_ retained most of your fighting skills from that place, she probably retain a lot of her motor skills from her time as a teenager. She might not be able to communicate like we can but that doesn't mean she doesn't understand us."

The logic Star presented him was sound, and now he was kicking himself internally for missing it. "That...makes so much sense it's scary."

"I have my moments. Now come claim your prize, Mr. Diaz. My bubble butt demands only the finest hands to squeeze its beauty." She purred his way, grabbing him & gently bringing him under the blankets with him as they readied to let nature take its course.

* * *

At the Butterfly castle, Eclipsa & Globgor were experiencing a similar dilemma with their child, Meteora. She, like Mariposa, could not sleep. Also like Mariposa, she found herself climbing out of her crib & crawling out in the hallway, resembling a deer in headlights. The two parents took her back to their room to contemplate what to do now. "I don't understand it." Globgor remarked. "She rarely has trouble falling asleep. You sure she doesn't need a change?"

"I checked her three times, it's all clear." Eclipsa responded, stroking her baby daughter's cheek and getting her to giggle. "She's not hungry, either. Whatever could be the matter?" She asked Meteora as if she could expect a verbal response. Instead she got happy babbling and her waving her arms around. "My you're just the cutest little thing, aren't you?" The baby kept babbling and flapped her arms faster. "What are you? Are you some kind of beautiful butterfly?" The word "butterfly" seemed to turn a switch on in Meteora's brain as it resulted in her slowing her flapping before coming to a stop and looking at Eclipsa with a zoned-out expression on her face.

"Oh wait, that gives me an idea!" Globgor had a lightbulb go off in his head. "The other day River told me how he and Moon would put on a sock puppet show for Star when she was a baby to help her sleep."

"...sock puppets?"

Globgor shrugged. "I don't know, I've learned not to question some things."

"Well...I suppose we have nothing to lose."

"I know where he keeps the puppets. Follow me!" He started for the door, with Eclipsa following having put Meteora down gently on the ground.

"Wait!" She yelled, stopping them both in their tracks. "Someone needs to stay here with Meteora!"

"It's only twenty steps away. Could she really cause that much trouble in two minutes?"

"I suppose not, but she's still a toddler. And I am _not_ losing my baby again like last time."

"...you're comparing hundreds of years of brainwashing & abuse...to a two minute walk down the hall."

Eclipsa rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be a good mother if I didn't. Isn't that right, Meteora?" She turned to face Meteora on the ground...only to find that Meteora was not sitting there. Suddenly, panic started to set in for the both of them. "Meteora!?" They frantically searched the whole room, including in their closets, their drawers, and under their bed...twice. No sign of her. "Oh dear, she's loose!"

"...I stand corrected." Globgor blurted out. "She must be somewhere in the castle. Let's go!" So the two of them left the room and began racing down the halls - as quietly as they could without waking up Moon or River - and frantically searching for the baby. They checked as many rooms as they could think of in the hall, and none of them contained their child. "Where on Earth could that little rascal be?"

Despite him speaking softly, his booming voice was enough to draw the attention of Moon & River from their room. Curiously, they opened the door and stepped outside, drawing Eclipsa's attention. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry. We didn't wake you, did we?"

"Oh heavens no, we haven't been to bed yet." Moon answered with a smile. "River and I were..._ahem_..._busy_."

"Yes, she means exactly what you think she means." River said with a wink.

"But you don't know what I think that means." Was Globgor's response to that statement. Needless to say it was Globgor's answer that left them all speechless for a moment.

"Anywho..."

"We're terribly sorry, but Meteora's gotten loose and we haven't been able to locate her. Oh my little angel..."

"The castle doors are all locked and I doubt she'd be able to finesse the emergency exits. She _has_ to be somewhere in the castle. We'll split up and search every nook and cranny if we have to."

"Even the dirty ones?" River remarked, leaving the others a tad unamused. "What? These are my good pajamas, I don't want them filthy."

So they split up and began searching the castle far and wide for Meteora. Though it was true that Meteora was at the time still in the castle, she was able to avoid detection from any of the four of them at all times. It seemed like they were always just a minute too late to find her in a particular room. The fact was Meteora _was_ in fact looking for a way to get outside, but she was careful enough to remain quiet, lest her moans of distress give her position away.

Over the course of nearly a half hour of racing around the castle, the four of them failed to locate the wandering baby. They returned to the outside of Moon & River's room to regroup, panic settling in now. "I don't understand it. We've looked everywhere!" Eclipsa exclaimed in a dismayed tone. "The only place we haven't checked is the laundry room, but...there's no possible way she could escape through there, is there?"

"I know Lavabo used to hang all of the washed clothing outside to dry, but he would never leave the window open for someone to crawl out...would he?" Moon pondered.

"...That does remind me: where _is_ Lavabo? For that matter, where did most of our staff go?" River asked. "I suppose they all abandoned their post after our world became this new conglomerate."

"River...not the time."

"I know, I can't help myself."

"Let's check the laundry room! Quickly!"

So they all raced towards the laundry room. Sure enough, one of the windows _was_ open, just slightly enough to allow for someone Meteora's size to be able to crawl out without trouble. And unbeknownst to them, that's exactly what happened, which meant Meteora was now loose in Echo Creek.

* * *

On the flip side, Mariposa had also managed to get away from her house and had somehow managed to open up Marco's bedroom window to climb out and escape. Unfortunately, Star and Marco were too busy in their latest sexual escapade to realize this until it was too late. They were both into it - the fires of sweltering passion burning brightly - yet still gentle & quiet enough so as to not disturb Mariposa or kick her off the bed...assuming she was still there, which she was not.

"This is never going to get old, is it?" Star asked lovingly as they pulled apart from their kiss.

"I hope not. It gets better every time."

"It sure does. And _you're_ getting a lot better at this, too."

"So are you."

"Well, it helps to have someone so willing to let me set the pace."

"Anything for my queen. I'm just surprised we haven't heard anything from Mar-" Marco peered over the blankets to check on Mariposa...and his heart sank when he didn't see her lying at the end of the bed. "M-M-MARIPOSA!?" His constrained shriek jerked Star up; upon glaring at the edge of the bed, she too nearly screamed. "S-She's gone!"

"Marco!" Star tugged at him and pointed towards his bedroom window, which was cracked open just enough for a baby to be able to crawl out and escape. "I think she got out!"

"Crap! We gotta go find her." He started to spring out of bed.

"...Marco-"

"_After_ we put on clothes, I know."

So they quickly dressed into their normal sleepwear - or in Star's case, her new sleepwear consisting of her black thermal shirt & her black leggings with gray swirling stripes - and trekked outside into the quiet night in search of Marco's baby sister. Where to begin? That was the question. Mariposa and Meteora, despite being so young physically, had 16 years worth of development in the Neverzone buried deep within their brains that, at least at the moment, were showing signs of coming out. Most babies don't wander out of their own homes into the dead of night. But then, most babies didn't interact regularly with a formerly magical princess from another dimension.

"I'm open to suggestions." Marco said, observing the area around him, noting the near total silence surrounding them.

"Where the heck do we even start?! Where does a baby _go_!?"

"Um..."

"What about the park? Mariposa _loves_ the park!"

"Do you think she has any idea how to even get there?"

"Well...to be fair, neither do _you?_" She teased. A while back - during Star's brief reprieve from her duties as princess following Eclipsa's coronation - Star & Marco went to the park one day, and Marco inexplicably got them lost on the way there. And she always finds an opportunity to rub it in playfully.

"_One time_, Star. _One_. Are you ever gonna let that go?"

"Nope." She said with a rather smug but still playful smile. Marco sighed.

"Why?"

"Because you're _fun_ to tease." She said, purring and lightly tapping his rear end. "I'll show you what I mean later when we get back to your room."

Typical Star. Always flirting at the wrong times. "Oh really?"

"_Meteora!_"

In the distance, Star & Marco could hear Eclipsa calling out for her own infant daughter. "...Is that Eclipsa?"

"Oh no, don't tell me Meteora got out too." Star groaned. "Just our luck." The two of them followed the sound of Eclipsa's increasingly frantic voice, leading them down the street and around the corner where they caught Eclipsa, Globgor, Moon, and River searching for Meteora. "Mom! Dad!"

The four adults caught the two teens heading their way and rushed up to them. "Star!" Eclipsa yelled towards them. "Meteora got out of the house, and we can't find her anywhere!"

"Marco's sister got out too!" Star explained. "We're trying to find her, and we're not having any luck."

"Was she giving you a hard time going to sleep?"

"Uh-huh." Star nodded. "Meteora too?" Eclipsa nodded. "Well that's just weird. But she seemed perfectly fine once we brought her back to Marco's room. She went right to sleep right as Marco and I...um..."

"What? When you and boy did what?" River was eager to hear Star spell it out.

"River, calm yourself, she doesn't need to tell us about her and the boy's business." Moon said to her husband with a smirk and a wink, which scored an embarrassed rise out of Star.

"Mom!" Her face went red with embarrassment, and Marco started laughing.

"To be fair, Star, you're not subtle about it." He told her so, and he was right.

"What can I say? I like what I like." Was her response, which to her, prompted a change in the subject matter. "Okay, okay, back to important things. Gotta find Mariposa & Meteora. If I was a little baby, where would _I_ go?"

"Well that's an easy one." River said rather confidently. He misunderstood the question, as he would soon demonstrate. "You would go in your diaper." Nobody was impressed with his answer. And it took him several moments to comprehend. "Oh, you meant..." And River looked away in shame. "Well that's quite embarrassing."

Marco chuckled and whispered to Star, "You are _definitely_ your father's daughter." Star could only roll her eyes. But in the distance, a faint whimper could be heard. It sounded like Meteora. "I think...that's Meteora." They all silently listened for her cries, and through their combined...I think "intelligence"...they deduced that the sound was coming from up the streets towards the convenience store. However, upon further listening, they also deduced that Mariposa was in the same direction, though a ways apart from Meteora. "I hear Mariposa too!"

"Alright, I say we split up! Mom, Dad, Eclipsa, you focus on Meteora. Marco and I will take Mariposa." Star barked, though it didn't take any more to get everyone on board with the plan.

* * *

The group took off down the street together. Once it became clear that the two babies had gone in separate directions, the group split, with Moon, River, Eclipsa, & Globgor going after Meteora, and Star & Marco going after Mariposa. They chased Mariposa all the way to the store. Somehow, through unexplained means, Mariposa was able to climb up onto the roof of the store and found herself happily and mindlessly pacing around. Star & Marco arrived at the scene shortly after. "MARIPOSA!" Marco yelled, drawing the baby's attention. "You come down right this instant!" The baby responded in turn by rasberry'ing Marco, drawing a hearty laugh from Star. "Don't you stick your tongue out at me."

"Let me try." Star stepped forward. "Mariposa? It's big sister Star! You wanna come on down for lil'old me?" That, too, failed, as Mariposa also stuck out her tongue at her. Star gasped loudly, exaggerating how offended she was; this time it was Marco's turn to laugh.

"Guess we're climbing." Marco and Star canvased the building, looking for way to climb up onto the roof. What they found was a box that - when Star & Marco were stacked on top of one another - gave them just enough height to peer over the edge. So that was what they decided to do. With Star manning the bottom & Marco being held up by Star, he was propped up to peer at his baby sister as he tried to talk some sense into her. "Mariposa? It's big brother Marco..." He said in a sing-song voice. The baby turned to face him and gave him what looked like the thousand yard stare. "What's the matter? Can't sleep?" She babbled, trying desperately to use words to communicate. "Why don't you come with me? We'll go back home and we'll do whatever we gotta do to get you back to dreamland, okay? Your big bro's not gonna let you do-WHOA!" Marco suddenly felt himself start to shake. "Star!?"

Below him, Star was having trouble holding Marco up. A sharp pain in her heart caught her off guard and nearly caused her to let go. "Not now, not now, not _now_..." She kept repeatedly over and over, gritting her teeth & tightly shutting her eyes to block the pain. "I'm fine, Marco. Really." She lied.

Marco turned back to his sister. "Okay seriously it's time to stop fooling ar-" Only to find that she had not only gotten away from Marco but had gotten _off_ the roof as well and had gone off in another direction. "Around. _Shoot_."

"What happened?" Star asked, still through gritted teeth. "She get off the roof?"

"Yup. Sorry about-" He looked down to check on her, and a soft but flattered smile crossed his face as he examined her position. She was holding him up in such a way that, with her arms wrapped around his waste and her head was inadvertently and unintentionally leaning against his tush, something that didn't even dawn on her since she was so focused on keeping him held up. "You enjoying yourself down there?" He asked slyly. Initially the light bulb in her head didn't go off; it was only after the boy gently motioned his head in her direction did it start to click for her. She looked over at his rear, and that's when it hit her. She gasped loudly, followed by a bright red blush crossing her face. "Come on, don't play dumb." Now he was truly messing with her.

"What? It's comforting." She said, not also flirting with him. "If we didn't have rogue babies on our hands I'd say we should switch. Maybe later?"

He couldn't help but laugh. "You're on, babe."

* * *

Meanwhile, a ways away, Star's folks were having quite a time trying to track Meteora down. Despite her age, she was fast & elusive, proving difficult to catch. Despite Globgor growing to large sizes and using his increased height to search the heights of the tress and the buildings, they were still unable to find the little toddler. Despite this, her moans & whines continued to reverberate throughout the night air. The family's worries only further intensified as more time passed, increasing the urgency to find the baby before something terrible happened.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever of searching, the family finally managed to catch sight of Meteora. She was heading towards an empty street. "Meteora!" Eclipsa yelled to her child. Meteora, for whatever reason, stopped in her tracks and turned to her mother, babbling with a thousand-yard stare. "Sweetheart! Come back to us, before you hurt yourself!" But her pleas fell on deaf ears; Meteora babbled something incoherently and then turned back to the street and began walking into it, scaring the Butterflies. At that moment, a car came driving up from one end, and it seemed like the driver did not notice the baby about to walk into the street. Luckily Meteora was smarter than said driver.

Through sheer luck, Meteora leaped into the air and landed on the car, somehow managed to latch onto it and stay on as it drove off away from her family. The family screamed in horror, while Meteora just sat on the trunk of the car, happily babbling to herself. This lasted for all of three blocks, as soon enough the baby managed to leap off the car and head down an alleyway.

"What has gotten into that child!?" Moon exclaimed. "Between her and Marco's younger sister, it feels like tonight's a free-for-all for infants."

"It's almost like they're looking for something." River commented, sparking an idea in Eclipsa.

"Or some_one_..."

"What are you thinking?" Moon asked her.

"Could they...could they possibly be looking for _each other_?" Moon and River looked at each other, with Globgor raising an eyebrow towards his wife. "Well, if anyone else has an idea, let's hear it!"

"They're infants, Eclipsa. How would they possibly know where to find each other?"

"Don't underestimate the intelligence of a child, Moon. Sometimes the kids are the smartest people in the room."

"Oh believe me, I've learned that the hard way..."

"Excuse me!?" River objected for some reason. "Just because I'm rambunctious does not mean I'm a child!"

An awkward silence followed. "...I was talking about Star, dear."

"...oh, that makes much more sense."

"I say we regroup with the kids." Globgor suggested. "Maybe they've had better luck than us tracking down Marco's sister."

* * *

...they did not.

Upon regrouping with Star and Marco near a bushel of trees, they found themselves frustrated, panicked, and at their wit's end. They had tried everything they could think of, with the exception of talking to authorities. But that wasn't an option that appealed to them. Given the sensitive nature of the cleaving and how others around them not in the Butterfly or Diaz family were still taking time to adjust to the new world, they felt that the best option was to handle the rescue of the babies themselves. It wasn't going well...untill...

Right as their frustrations were about to boil over, they heard faint cooing coming from a forest of trees near them. It sounded like not just one, but _two_ babies were making the noises. Star slowly tip-toed towards the source of the sound; she peered her head over one of the bushes in her way...and wouldn't you know it? It was Meteora and Mariposa, happily playing with each other on the ground and acting like they didn't have a care in the world. "I found 'em." Star whispered quietly to the others, motioning for them to move to her spot. They too saw with their own eyes the two babies playing with each other. Despite none of them making any noise, Meteora & Mariposa looked over in their direction, saw their loved ones, and immediately smiled, babbling & waving their arms all over.

"My baby!" Eclipsa & Globgor raced over to Meteora while Marco & Star grabbed Mariposa & hugged her tightly in their arms. "We were worried sick about you!"

"And you too, Mariposa!" Marco said sternly to his baby sister. Star released her grip on the baby, giving Marco all the space he needed to talk to Mariposa. "What was that? Why did you do this? You had us all scared that you and Meteora were gonna hurt yourselves or something. You can't just sneak out of the house like that, especially at night. That's a bad girl!" He said sternly but calmly. He wasn't one to scream in rage but when he put his foot down, you knew he meant business.

Unfortunately, that ended up drawing the ire of baby Meteora, who saw Marco sternly lecturing her friend and grew upset quickly. She started whining and shouting, wrestling her way out of Eclipsa's grip and running on her stubby legs over to Marco, lightly slapping Marco's legs and screaming incomprehensibly, almost as if she was vigorously trying to defend her friend and get Marco to stop yelling at her. It drew nothing but aww's from Eclipsa, Globgor, River, Moon, and Star. Eventually even Marco caved, knelling down and gently pinching her cheek. Mariposa managed to wiggle out of Marco's grip in the interim.

"Aww, are you standing up for your friend?" He asked Meteora. The baby furiously nodded while Mariposa crawled over to her and began babbling to her, explaining in her own incoherent way that they were merely looking out for them and concerned for their safety. "Have you guys missed each other?" The two of them looked at Marco and nodded. The boy sighed; the days & weeks following Star & Marco's return from their unforgettable getaway saw their attention divided in all sorts of directions, primarily in helping Star recover her physical, mental, & psychological health. As a result, the playdates that Marco promised both Mariposa and Meteora weren't happening with the frequency he pledged. And while the babies - at least on a general scale - understood why Star had to take priority, they still missed each other dearly. They _are_ children, after all.

"I'm sorry," Star said, taking a seat on the ground and hugging both children. "Everyone's been so worried about _me_, and I guess those playdates we promised you slipped through the cracks." But neither baby was upset, evidenced by their immediate embracing of Star and smothering her with affection in a way only infants could. They loved her dearly and they were merely happy she was still with them. "But that doesn't excuse the stunt you two pulled tonight. You had us running around town like a bunch of crazy people tonight looking for you. We will _not_ be condoning that behavior." And the babies' response...blowing raspberries at Star. Playfully, of course. "Don't you two stick your tongues out at me." And whatever stern lecturing Star was giving the two quickly devolved into playful taunting as she engaged in adorable roughhousing with the both of them, leaving the rest to watch in awe.

That is until Angie & Rafael Diaz - still in sleepwear - came dashing into the scene, swearing profusely having sprinted throughout much of Echo Creek searching for everyone. "OUR BABIES ARE MISSING! OUR..." Rafael's frantic yelling was calmed very fast upon him & Angie setting eyes on Star playing with Mariposa & Meteora on the ground. Marco sheepishly scratched his ear as he faced his parents.

"Y-Yeah, I guess I gotta explain..."

Angie sighed, one of major relief. "Did Mariposa get out?"

"Yeah, she did. We all just spent like three hours looking for them."

"Same thing happened to our daughter." Globgor spoke up. "Turns out they were just missing each other."

The two Diaz parents looked at each other and sighed happily. "Kids."

"They really are the best." Angie took note of Star happily playing with the two trouble-making babies. "Something tells me Star is going to make a _wonderful_ mother one day."

"Oh I don't know about _that_." Star said, having overheard Angie's compliment. "I feel like I'd be better as, like, one of those super chill aunts that doesn't have the worries of a mom but stops by to say hi to the babies and always makes them smile and keeps them distracted for the parents. You know, like Eclipsa." Eclispa found herself bewildered by Star's comment.

"Nonsense, Star, you'll make a wonderful mom one day."

She rolled her eyes with a smile, then stood up holding the babies in her arms. "What's say we all get back home?" Star turned to Eclipsa. "We could take Meteora for the night, let her and Mariposa have a sleepover. Then they could spend tomorrow together, and maybe that'll cure their loneliness."

"It's all fine by me. I wouldn't trust our daughter with anyone else." Eclipsa responded, proudly looking at Globgor.

"Is that okay with you?" Marco asked his parents, whom didn't hesitate to nod.

"It would be our pleasure to host Mariposa's friend for the night."

"And who knows? Having a friend over might inspire Angie and I to...well, I'll let your imaginations fill in the blanks." Rafael blurted out as he and Angie burst into laughter. Marco joined in, albeit with an incredibly awkward laugh.

"You-You guys aren't serious, are you?" He wasn't quite keen on having another sibling at the time, especially so soon after Mariposa was born _AND_ in the midst of the trouble the cleaving had caused.

"Oh, of course we're not, mijo."

"Then again, we weren't serious the last time, either." Angie winked at Rafael, and then at Marco. The horrified boy slowly began backing away from his folks, causing everyone to erupt into laughter again.

* * *

So Star and Marco returned home with Angie & Rafael, carrying Meteora & Mariposa in their arms, while Eclipsa, Globgor, Moon, & River returned to the Butterfly castle. On the way back to the Diaz home, Meteora & Mariposa fell asleep in the children's arms, and they remained asleep as they were gently placed into the crib together. "Aww, aren't they the cutest?" Star whispered, noting that Angie & Rafael had already gone back to sleep quickly in the bed next to the crib.

"I guess so. But they're not as cute as you." Marco whispered back to his girlfriend.

"Oh, Marco, you're a sweetheart, but look at them. You can't beat babies for cuteness." Marco shook his head lovingly while Star continued to remain enamored at the two babies sleeping next to each other. Eventually the two took their leave and exited the room, quietly closing the door behind them. "Marco, do you...do you think I'll make a good parent someday?"

The boy responded by wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. "Star, you're going to make an amazing mom one day. I'm sure of that."

She kissed back in delight. "Thanks, Marco. And I know _you'll_ make a wonderful dad. You already make a great husband-to-be."

The boy blushed, kissing her gently and tightening his embrace. "Thanks, hon. How's about we go celebrate the only way we know how?"

"You mean by whipping up some super cheesy nachos and binging some really stupid movies on the TV?"

Marco's face fell. That was not the answer he was hoping for, but he tried his best to hide the disappointment. "Oh, uh, s-sure, that sounds like fun."

Silly Marco. All this time and he still couldn't figure out when Star was messing with him. She gently flicked his forehead. "Dude, I'm messing with you."

"...oh."

The girl could not believe how naive he was, but she loved him anyway, proving it by squishing his face with her hands and kissing him on the spot. "Marco, I swear, you're the king of dorks."

The boy let out a quiet laugh. "Does that make _you_ the queen of dorks?"

"That's one thing I'd be happy to be queen of. I love you, Marco."

"I love you too, Star."

"Now let's stop wasting time and get going, mister!" She gently grabbed his hand and led him back to his room, where the two of them picked up where they previously left off and commenced several more rounds of beautiful, steamy fun in the quiet comfort of his bed.

* * *

**End of Episode 6!**

**Sorry this one's a bit shorter than the previous few, but I've come to realize that not every single chapter needs to be held to an arbitrary word count. Some plots just don't have quite as much material as others and it'd feel silly to stretch them too thin just to meet a word count that ultimately means very little if anything in the grand scheme of things.**

** That said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. It was a lot of fun to write and I look forward to bringing Mariposa & Meteora's dynamic back up in future installments. **

**And as always, please read & review! :)**


	7. Happy Birthday, Safe Kid!

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 7: Happy Birthday, Safe Kid!**

**Episode Summary: Star plots to throw Marco the biggest, most epic birthday bash of his life, mainly driven by the fact that she missed celebrating his birthday the year prior and a revelation that could change the course of their relationship and their lives.**

**Original Postdate: February 22, 2020**

* * *

Another peaceful Earth-Mewni day. But it wasn't just any day. At this moment, Marco Diaz's birthday was a mere three days away. Three days. _This time was going to be different._ Star thought to herself as she lovingly watched her lover chomp on cheesy nachos next to him on the Diaz couch, while she herself was resting comfortably - albeit reluctantly - in her coveted Home Vacation pink bathrobe with her bare feet comfortably placed in her portable foot bath.

The year prior, while Star and Marco were on Mewni full-time so Star could mend the fences between mewmans and monsters, Star had gotten so wrapped up in her duties and with getting back together with Tom that she had completely missed Marco's birthday. Even though the boy played it off as everyone being wrapped up in what was going on, Star felt _awful_ about the whole ordeal. This time, Star was determined to make this the most special birthday the boy had ever had, no matter what it took. She was not going to let him down again.

"You okay?" He caught wind of her staring at him and decided to engage her, which coincidentally broke her out of her trance.

"O-Oh, yeah, I'm good." She smiled. "I space out sometimes when I'm looking at your cute face." He rewarded her compliment with a kiss. "So...have you been thinking about your big day?"

He initially raised an eyebrow. "...my big day?"

"Your birthday, silly!" She said with glee. "It's in a few days! Did you have any ideas about what you wanted? You know, gifts? Party? Etcetera."

The boy couldn't help but giggle. "Oh you don't have to worry about that." He reassured her. "I don't need anything big."

Now it was Star's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You sure about that? I mean, wouldn't you _want_ to go all out for your special day? You only have a birthday once a year."

He nodded rather confidently. "Yeah, I'm sure. We don't need anything big, maybe just you, me, some of our friends and some cake."

"But that sounds kind of...I don't know...ordinary?"

"And then maybe after everyone's left you and I can have some _fun_?" He purred & winked her way, causing the girl to blush and purr back.

"See, _that_ sounds like something I'd be up for. But is birthday sex really all that extra special when we already do it every day? Sometimes multiple times a day..."

"I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be, especially when it's with the coolest, most beautiful girl in this entire world."

"Oh my gosh, stop it, you mush." She teased, engaging in a kiss with the boy. "Seriously there has to be _something_ you want for your birthday?"

Intruding on the young couple was River, who came in holding a plate of cornbread with one hand and chomping on a slice he was holding in the other hand. "Star, you _must_ try this new Earth delicacy. The boy's folks call it "cornbread." It's absolutely delicious, although I feel like this is false advertising. I have _yet_ to taste a single corn pellet in any of these slices."

The boy rolled his eyes and chuckled, only to give a confused glare into the kitchen; Moon and Angie were bonding over the stove while Rafael was chit-chatting with Eclipsa & Globgor. He then turned back to Star. "So, uh, why are your folks bunking with us again?"

The truth: it was all part of Star's plan. She was already well into the process of planning a huge birthday bash for Marco at the Butterfly castle. In order to keep Marco away from the castle, their cover story was that they were suffering from a pest problem, requiring fumigation and forcing the Butterflies to temporarily evacuate. In reality, their friends plus Star were hard at work getting things ready at the castle for the big day.

"Oh, uh, pest problem." She lied. "You know how it goes."

"You'd think your royal staff would be equipped to handle that."

"Actually, we haven't seen most of those guys since the cleaving. I think they all panicked and ran off. Meh, no big loss, if you ask me. Having servants is overrated anyway."

"You sure? Not to toot my own horn but I think I made a pretty good squire when we were on Mewni, and I reckon I'd make a good squire again for my lovely princess." He tried to be flirty with her but the girl wasn't having it. Anything that involved squires, kings, queens, or _anything_ related to royalty made her skin crawl ever since the cleaving. All of the stress & anxiety from trying to be the peacemaker & shadow queen burned her out entirely on anything royal-based. She frowned heavily.

"I'm sure, Marco." She said bluntly and rather coldly before returning to her former bright mood. "Thank you, though." And she apologized in sorts with a kiss on his cheek. "You're a sweetheart. Hey, so I'm gonna head to the castle and check on how things are going for a bit. You mind?"

"Not at all. You sure you don't want me to come with you?" He raised an eyebrow; truth be told Marco was already suspecting that Star was lying about the reason her family was bunking at the Diaz house for the time being, but he chose to let it be and play along for now.

"Positive." She got up enthusiastically and started for the front door, only to remember she was still in her bathrobe. "I'm...gonna go change first." And she turned and went up the stairs towards Marco's room. Once there, she took off her robe and slipped into her outfit for the day - her black "Star Butterfly" leather jacket, her black "Bubble Butt" t-shirt, and a gray/black version of her narwhal dress outfit underneath. Yes, it turns out Star did have variants of each of her signature dresses in several colors. But lately she was laser focused on emphasizing the color black. It felt appropriate for the mood she constantly swung in and out of.

With her wardrobe fitted, she pulled out a box of birthday decorations and carried it towards the window, climbing down to the ground and racing off to the castle.

* * *

At the castle, Star burst in through the front door and made her way to the throne room, where a bunch of Star and Marco's friends - Jackie, Chloe, Janna, Tom, Alfonzo, Ferguson, Starfan13, Buff Frog & his children, even Kelly & Tad from the dimension of the Wooletts. Star used the new dimension-portaling ray gun Tom's father had crafted to go to her world & ask for them help in setting up for Marco's party.

"How's it going, guys?" Star called out, gently setting the box she was holding down on the floor. She was met by Janna, Starfan13, Alfonzo, & Ferguson.

"No complaints so far." Janna said casually. Both she and Star looked over at Alfonzo & Ferguson, who were staring at Star like she had six heads. "What's up with you guys?"

"...Who's the new guy?" Ferguson asked impulsively. Janna shook her head, clearly unamused.

"We've already been over this. It's _Star_." She answered; Star waved nervously to the two boys.

"It can't be." Alfonzo said, observing Star's person. He and Ferguson were unable to comprehend the person standing before them. "Where's the long, flowing hair? Where are the horns? Why's her outfit all punkish and edgy?"

Janna turned to Star. "I swear I laid it all out for them."

"It's okay, Janna. This is still a big change for me, too."

"And where's her cheekmarks!?" Starfan13 exclaimed. For some of their friends, Star & Marco hadn't seen any of them since their last visit to Earth, just a couple of days before Mina launched her attack on Eclipsa & the monsters.

"Oh, those...yeah those went away when I destroyed the magic."

Star's answer visibly disappointed Starfan13. "But you looked so _cuuuute_ with those cheek marks."

"Yeah you just don't look the same without-" Alfonzo stopped himself when he got a glimpse of her T-shirt. "Um..." He gestured towards the shirt, which was all the pick up Star needed.

"Oh, _this_? Why don't you ask Marco about it? It's thanks to him that this baby even exists." She said flirtatiously with a grin, getting the three of them to laugh. Janna rolled her eyes as Star breezed right past the two boys and headed towards the thrones, where Jackie, Chloe, and Tom were setting up the balloons & banners. "Looking good, guys." Star shouted to them, giving them an approving thumbs up.

"Hey, Star!" Jackie yelled back, taking note of her color scheme. Indeed Star's drastic change was something all of their friends had trouble getting used to. "How's Marco?"

"As far as I know, he doesn't suspect a thing."

"You mean you haven't blabbed about the party yet?" Tom teased, getting a chuckle from Jackie & Chloe.

"No, I haven't blabbed about the party yet. For your information, I'm pretty good at subterfuge."

"...how do you even know what that means?"

But before she could provide another answer, Janna approached her again with a clipboard in hand. "By the way, the karaoke machine and the chocolate fountain are on their way."

"Alright! Progress!"

"And your folks are gonna make sure Marco stays away from the castle until the party?"

"Oh I don't think we have anything to worry about there. My folks are pretty good at deception..." She said proudly, though her smile quickly gave way to a frown. "...for better or worse."

"And Marco's none the wiser?"

Star shrugged. "I didn't get any impression that he was catching on, so..."

"Eh, I'm sure we're fine either way."

They broke off and headed to different parts of the room to help with setting up Marco's party. Star found herself joined by Starfan13. "So Star...is it true that Marco earned his high school equivalent while he was vacationing with you on Mewni?"

Star raised an eyebrow towards her self-proclaimed super fan. She would not tolerate any implication that Marco trekked all the way to her home dimension just to make a mockery of her duties. "Okay, first of all, yes he did. Second, he wasn't "vacationing" with me on Mewni. He was helping me while I was killing myself with my princess duties."

Needless to say Starfan13 only got the jist of her statement. "A simple yes would've sufficed."

The former princess sighed. "Sorry, I'm just not up for anyone talking down about Marco. The boy gave up a _lot_ for me and he really was a massive help. I don't know how he juggled helping me and concentrating on his studies. And I thought _I_ had it rough."

"So what are you gonna do when he goes off to college?"

Her question struck a nerve in Star. Talk about dropping a bomb. "...college?"

"Well, I mean, he's _obviously_ gonna go, isn't he? With his street cred _and_ his smarts, he could get into any school he wants. The possibilities are endless for him."

"Uh..." She was at a loss for words. Where was _this_ coming from all of a sudden? Marco had not once mentioned even the idea of college to her since they had been home. Sure, ever since Marco unceremoniously turned down the title of Mewni knight she knew that Earth college was an inevitable path for him to take. But you would think that for something that significant Marco would take time to talk to his girlfriend about it. So what was going on? Was Marco hiding something? Was Starfan13 just talking in non-sequiters? Well now it wasn't going to leave her brain until she found out. "Look, Marco can do whatever he wants with his life, but I doubt he'd make a decision like that & just go off to college whereever without bringing it up at least once."

"Maybe he's afraid to say something because he doesn't want to hurt your feelings or something?"

By this point Star had grown tired of the conversation. "Nice catching up with you." She said flatly before awkwardly leaving the scene.

* * *

Later that night, hours after returning to the Diaz home, Star found herself sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a nice cup of tea, while Marco was busy fiddling on his laptop. The awkward conversation with Starfan13 continued to linger in her mind, as internally she contemplated whether to even bring it up at all. "So I got to see some of our friends today." Star blurted out on a whim. "Alfonzo, Ferguson, Starfan13..."

"Oh, that's nice." Marco said with a smile. "I really need to catch up with some of those guys. Did they talk about anything interesting?"

"Well, Alfonzo & Ferguson were their usual weird selves. They didn't even recognize me in my new look."

The boy chuckled. "Of course they didn't. Heh, I bet Starfan13 didn't recognize you either. Not without your cheek marks, anyway."

Star felt her cheeks; the entire past month had been such a blur of chaos in her mind that she actually forgot she no longer had her cheek marks at times. "I'm still not entirely used to it myself, so I can't say I blame her."

"Did you guys talk about anything interesting?"

"Funny you ask that. Starfan and I were talking...and then she started talking about you and me...a-and you and college, and..." Star was visibly getting flustered. She had _no_ idea how to steer this conversation.

"College?"

"Y-Yeah, cause of how you got your high school diploma while you were on Mewni or something."

"Oh, my high school equivalent? Yeah, I sure did...and then I got it all greasy because I was busy being a Marco, so I had to get a replacement diploma."

And just as the nerves were hitting Star, they were dissipated as she began laughing at his display of ineptitude. "Oh Marco...you're such a Marco." She snort-laughed. "Actually, I never asked you. How _did_ you managed to juggle your studies with helping me on Mewni?"

The sudden switch to the topic of college caused Marco to raise an eyebrow. But her sincere curiosity overrode his skepticism. "You want the truth?" He asked; she nodded. "It...wasn't easy. I don't want to sound entitled o-or like I had it rougher than you did. But some nights after we'd been working all day I'd go back to my room and just study my books until my brain hurt. Had to pull an all-nighter here and there, sometimes falling on some of your busiest days. But it was all worth it."

Safe to say the girl couldn't believe her ears. Here she was...a total hot mess suffering from severe sleep deprivation & erratic sleep scheduling, and yet here was Marco, explaining his own exhaustion due to his commitment to helping her _and_ his own studies. Suddenly she felt a pit in her stomach. "Aww, Marco...w-why didn't you ever say anything? I would've eased your obligations as my squire if I had know any of that."

"Well...that's kind of why I didn't say anything. I thought you would've told me to back off a-and I didn't want that."

"Because you wanted to prove yourself as my squire."

He hesitated. "...Sort of."

"What do you mean "sort of?"

"It's just...at times it felt like...it felt like the times where I was acting _as_ your squire was the only time I got to actually hang out with you. Y-You got really busy and you ran yourself really hard, and the last thing I wanted was to get in the way of that just because I was missing my friend."

Star's time as ambassador of Mewni and as royal adviser to Eclipsa caused her to spend an increasing amount of time _away_ from Marco, something that the both of them detested. But she never knew just how much of a toll it took on the boy. For the sake of her sanity & happiness, he's chosen to keep a lot of his own pain locked away. And he's done a fine job of not showing it. But little by little since the Cleaving it has leaked out, inadvertently forcing Star to confront things about her past she thought she wasn't quite ready to confront. "...I'm sorry, Marco."

He brushed off her apology, putting on a smile. "It's okay, honest. That's over now. You fulfilled your duties, I got my High School diploma, and now we're both off to do bigger and better things in this new world. You know...eventually."

Star nodded hesitantly, the pit in her stomach growing. "Yeah...sure..."

The boy checked the time & realized it was nearly bedtime. "I better shower." He stood up and started making his way towards the stairs. "See you upstairs, and you _better_ bring your A-game tonight, babe." He said with a purr, causing her to blush & purr back. Once she was certain he was out of earshot, she scooched over to his open laptop. The web page that was open was a page that had an extensive list of different colleges to research, some colleges local - such as Echo Creek Community College - and some that were much more long distance - like Stanford University and the University of Michigan. Star knew that it would take much more than just looking at the names of the schools to learn what they were all about. But for now, she decided to shrug it off and join Marco upstairs.

* * *

The following morning, Marco & Star's friends - also including Pony Head - arrived early at the Butterfly castle to resume preparations for Marco's birthday party...only to find that Star was already up and dressed, laced in her newly minted black outfit and working very hard on party prep. Kelly & Tad were also on hand, as they had been brought over much earlier in the morning from their own dimension. The mere sound of them entering the throne room caused her to quickly turn her head towards the entrance, one thing became abundantly clear to the group: Star had been up for most of if not all of the previous night. "Morning, sleepy heads!" She shouted with a rather frayed happy tone.

Both Janna and Tom face palmed rather exaggeratedly, realizing that Star was likely in the midst of another "episode." Meanwhile the other friends were just left baffled. "Yo, B-Fly, you look like you been workin' all night. What gives?" Pony Head asked.

Before Star could even give an answer, Kelly intervened. "You just answered your own question." Was her response.

"What? This party has to be _perfect_ for Marco." Star added as she struggled to hang a few streamers up.

"Yo, but like, it's just a birthday party. He's just getting a year older, right?"

Star sighed and made her way down from her perch back onto the ground. "No, guys, he's not _just_ getting older. He's getting ready to move on to bigger and better things with his life."

Alfonzo and Ferguson gasped loudly. "What does that mean? Did you guys get a divorce already!? Who's getting custody of the baby!?" Alfonzo yelled out, prompting even more face palms from the group around them.

"We're not breaking up, and that's Marco's _sister_, guys." Star explained calmly despite the sleep deprivation. "I'm talking about growing up & fulfilling his dreams. You know, going to college, finding his dream career...starting a family..."

"Time out." Janna yelled, stepping forward. "...who said anything about Diaz going to college? This is the first we're hearing of it." The rest of the group - Kelly and Tad included - agreed. A nervous Starfan13 slowly raised her hand and took one step forward.

"...I think it's my fault." She said with a nervous chuckle. "Star and I were talking yesterday and I started asking her some weird questions about Marco and-"

"So in other news, grass is green." Janna spoke with a hint of annoyance in her tone. Starfan13 looked away, clearly embarrassed.

"No no, it's not her fault, it's..." Star took a deep breath and readied herself. "I just want to show Marco that he has my support no matter what he decides to do. Because I feel like I haven't really done that in the past. Plus I kinda missed his birthday last year and I totally owe him for that."

"Wait, you didn't celebrate his birthday _at all_?" Kelly exclaimed in a dumbfounded tone. Coincidentally his birthday came _right_ after Marco came to the discovery he had feelings for Star and had to be emotionally comforted by Kelly.

Star somberly shook her head. "Nope. And it's been bothering me since last year."

"Okay, but what does _any_ of that have to do with him going to college?" Jackie spoke up. The mere sound of her voice got a blush from Star.

"W-Well, see when we were on Mewni and Marco finally got to be knighted as, you know, an actual knight..."

"Oh so that knight stuff _was_ true, it wasn't just Marco exaggerating?" She asked again, suddenly recalling the fallout of what led to her breaking it off with the boy.

"Not exactly, and _so_ not the point right now!" Star started to rub her temples in clear frustration. "The point was he got to be whatever kind of knight he wanted but he said no because he wanted to come back to Earth and go to college and I called him "Sir Marco the Quitter." Long story short, I want to show him he has my support no matter what he does _and_ I owe him one extra special birthday party! So who's with me?"

"I can get down with that." Janna jumped in again. "Just promise us you won't go overboard on this and drive yourself nuts trying to throw an awesome party."

Before speaking again, Star let out a loud yawn and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah...about that..." And just like clockwork, there were loud knocks at the front door.

* * *

As it turned out, Star went above and beyond the call of duty for the party, trying to order things such as live entertainment, an amazing buffet of food, party games, etcetera. But of course, not everything was going according to plan. The live entertainment Star had ordered had to cancel at the last minute which forced Star to scramble, the food she ordered for the buffet turned out to be cheap, undercooked, & falsely advertised, and the party game she wanted to bring in were...well, let's just say they were less than appropriate. Safe to say things were going downhill very fast, pushing Star into a severe sleep-deprived frenzy as she raced to help finish preparations.

Of course the rest of her friends became increasingly concerned for her well being. Tom approached her slowly and put his hand on her shoulder. "...Star? You okay?"

She quickly whipped her head around, sweat dripping from her short hair. "Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah totally, totally...I'm...I'm good. Yeah, everything is great. What with the entertainment bailing on me, the food being utter crap, and the party games being completely age-inappropriate. No no no, everything's...everything's good."

"...we've been at this for hours...how's about we all take a break and get some grub?"

Her bloodshot eyes lit up briefly. "Ooh that sounds good. But, uh..." She took a quick survey of the throne room; it was nowhere near ready for a party. She let out a very loud sigh. "Why don't you guys go on ahead? I'll...catch up. I just need to rearrange some things here to make everything work."

"...You sure?"

She gently nodded. "Positive."

Tom looked back at the others, who all exchanged shrugs and confused looks. "Alright, just don't work yourself too hard, okay?" He hugged her before joining the others and departing. Star was now left all alone, letting the demons in her head _and_ her sleep deprivation get the better of her as she worked overtime to try and salvage Marco's birthday party. And what did it get her? Sadly...not much.

Her efforts to salvage the party she had planned for Marco didn't really go anywhere, and by the time she came out of her hyper-focused state, it was already nightfall. And by then, the constant adrenaline rush she had been feeling from the day before til that very point in time had finally ceased, causing Star to collapse on the ground, right where she stood. A jolt of pain to her heart, and she was out like a light, and it took only a few minutes for a drool puddle to form by her mouth and her snoring to fill the quiet air of the room. But that wasn't the worst of it.

None other than Marco himself came into the castle, following the sound of the snoring girl into the throne room. "...Star?" He quietly called out. He finally reached the throne room and saw the exhausted girl slumbering on the floor. With a gentle smile, he walked up slowly to her, picked her up, and carried her out, taking her out of the castle and walking _all the way_ bcak to his house.

* * *

Only a couple of hours later, Star awakened from her slumber in a huff, gasping loudly and sitting up, panting and sweating. Marco was lying next to her, _on top_ of the blankets. "Evening, sleeping beauty." He cooed with a smirk. The girl looked over at her loving boyfriend and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"M-M-Marco? What happened?" She asked. As far as she knew, he was still none the wiser to what she was planning for him.

"Oh, y-you fell asleep at the castle. I guess monitoring the pest problem took the wind out of you." Just the one look he got back at the castle earlier was enough to make him figure out what was happening, but he was intent on playing along anyway.

"Y-Y-Yeah, I-I guess so." She suspected he was onto her, and she knew she wouldn't be able to dance around it forever. "Okay...real talk...how much do you know?"

He shrugged. He didn't know details, but he didn't really need to. "I know enough. I mean I _saw_ the throne room." This was followed with a loud sigh from her as she climbed back under the blankets, with Marco joining her and embracing her. "Wanna talk about it?"

Now it was her turn to shrug. "N-Not really. But I have a session tomorrow, if you wanna come listen. It'll probably come up..."

"You sure it's okay if I listen in?"

She nodded calmly. "Absolutely." She leaned in and kissed him. "Thanks for carrying me to your bed, by the way. That was really sweet. Must've been a nightmare for your back, though."

He scoffed, playing offended at the suggestion. "Puh-leeze. It was no trouble." They kissed again before Marco started to get out of bed. "I'll leave you alone to sleep for a bit."

"D'aww, you don't _have_ to leave."

"I just don't want to be a bother, is all. You really shouldn't be having your sleep interrupted, _especially_ when you're _this_ out of it."

"Oh come on, Marco. You can stay. There's plenty of ways you can entertain yourself, anyway. You can play with some of my cool royal knick-knacks in my closet. You can play with some of my old stuffed animals. Or you can...oh I don't know, _play with yourself_ if you're into that."

Those three simple words initially flew over Marco's head. "Nah, I'm fine. Promise. You just rest, there's gonna be a nice dinner for you la-" And it only hit him _just_ as he was leaving the room. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her again, now with a flirtatious, smug smile on her face. "_**What did you say?**_"

"You heard me." Her grin only grew. "You forget, Marco, we were _both_ at that seminar."

He knew what she was talking about. She knew she had struck a nerve. His face turned an entirely new shade of red. "I can explain-"

"Up-bup-bup. No need. But you really gotta pick a side: either embrace it, or do a better job of concealing it. This half-n-half stuff just isn't working."

The boy began to sweat, struggling to find any words to speak. "W-Well it would be really helpful for me if you didn't look so dang _hot_ while you're slumbering next to me!"

"Oh, so you do it while I'm sleeping, do you, mister?" Boy did she _love_ to tease him. It was cute to her the way he would get all flustered about just being a teenager with hormones. "I hope you at least enjoy the show. Oh, wait a minute...so is _that_ why you're never upset when I fall asleep in the middle of it?" No response. She giggled. Nothing about his teenage hormones actually bothered her. Apart from it being a bit of a kink for her, she figured he was already going through enough internal crap trying to figure it out on his own. The last thing he needed was more aggravation on the subject. "Hey...come here." She gestured, motioning to him to approach her. He slowly did, uncertain of what he was going to get from her. Once he finally reached the bed, he leaned in and was met with a gentle kiss on his lips, temporarily melting their anxieties. "...I love you."

Marco let out a nervous but relieved laugh before returning an even stronger kiss. "I love you too." When they finally parted, Star let out an excruciatingly loud yawn and rubbed her eyes, the sleep deprivation still prevalent. "...How long were you up, anyway?"

"Um..."

* * *

"38 hours?" Star nodded to her therapist, Cassandra Cher. Marco, Janna, Moon, River, and Eclipsa were sitting in the waiting room, listening intently.

"You know what's really sad?" Star began, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "That's not even my personal best."

"You say that like it's something to brag about."

"Oh no no no, I know it's _not_." The girl could barely open her eyes. "It's just something I've gotten used to happening. But _why_? That's what I can't seem to figure out."

"Well, to help us understand the _why_, maybe we should start with the _when_. Has this happened before?" Star nodded quietly. "Why don't you tell me what you remember?"

Star took a deep breath. Once again it was story time. "Well, there was the whole "Monster Arm" thing..."

"Monster Arm?"

Star buried her head in her hands. "So one time Marco broke his arm and I tried to fix it with magic but I accidentally transformed it into this tentacle-like thing and it was horrible. I mean he made due with it but I was _so_ determined to fix it that I stayed up for like two nights straight working on a counter spell for it. It was hell! Oh and there was this other time when I was younger...I accidentally broke one of our royal antiques - I don't even remember what it is anymore - a-and I was petrified that my parents would be furious, s-so I spent the next, like, I think _three days_ straight trying to figure out how to put it back together. And this was _before_ I ever got the wand, so I didn't even have magic to help me there. I can't even remember if my parents ever found out about that or not..."

Outside, Moon and River exchanged guilt-ridden glances to each other. The truth was they hadn't known about that until that very moment, but it didn't assuage the guilt.

"And there were multiple instances during my reign as Eclipsa's royal adviser where I made a lot of careless and bad choices trying to steer the kingdom into peace with the monsters, so I spent lots and lots of sleepless nights there trying to fix everything and get things back on track."

"...Were you _asked_ to do that?"

"Well..." Star sighed. "No, not really. Eclipsa even told me all the time it wasn't necessary for me to do that. I just...I couldn't stop myself. I _had_ to try. If I made the mess, I should be the one to clean it, right?"

Cassandra scribbled some notes down before looking back up at Star. "I see. So about this latest incident...tell me about that."

If there was one thing Star hated, it was having to dig up her own past & confront it. But if she didn't, the demons that lay in her brain would fester & feed on the memories until she exploded. And after what happened the last time she exploded, she wasn't up for facing another one. She sighed and looked Cassandra straight on. "So...I forgot to celebrate Marco's birthday last year. See we were on Mewni and he was my squire, and I had just gotten back together with Tom. Y-You know, the demon guy, he was here last time-"

"I remember."

"Okay good. So anyway we were back together and I started spending less time with Marco and then one day we were on a beach a-and I didn't realize until it was too late that I had totally missed his birthday. Didn't even get him a card or anything. I felt _awful_ about it and I wanted to make it up to him then. But by that point things on Mewni got really crazy and then I became Eclipsa's royal adviser and I basically had no free time and _rrrrugh._" She started to face palm repeatedly. "So now this year I wanted to go the extra mile and throw him a super huge awesome birthday party as a way of showing him how much I love him a-and show him he has my support whenever he leaves."

"Leaves?" Now Cassandra was doubly invested; she stood up and walked across the room, preparing a cup of tea for Star and bringing it over to the couch for her. "Where is he going?"

"Nowhere! I-I mean, I don't _think_ he's going anywhere, but maybe he is...?" She took a sip of tea and remained silent. Her minds was surprisingly jumbled for being in a place meant to calm it. "Okay so one of our friends might've put a thought into my head that Marco would be leaving to go to college, which means I might not see him for a while."

"...Was he the only that told you this?"

Star shook her head gently. "No."

"That's a significant step for anyone to be taking. Has he given you any reason to think he _wouldn't_ talk to you about something like that before making an informed decision?

Again she shook her head. "Nope."

"Then...I don't see the problem."

Star began rubbing her arm, a sure sign of emotional discomfort, even scratching it without realizing it. "See, when he came to Mewni, I made him my unofficial squire so we could still hang out and do silly stuff together. But he took his duties _super_ seriously. So much so that when he was formally knighted I was _so_ damn proud of him. He'd grown up so much, and I was stoked to hear what knightly post he wanted to take. _Aaaand_ that's when he told me he was going to quit and return to Earth to resume a normal Earth life. And that's..." She started to scratch more intently. "That's when I called him _'Sir Marco the Quitter_." Just the mere memory of that utterance shot a bolt of pain into her chest, causing her to stop scratching her arm & clutch her chest. "I don't know _why_ I said that, I-I didn't mean to make him feel like I didn't care about his own dreams or ambitions, because I do!" She managed to spurt out through gritted teeth. "If I'm going to be a good girlfriend, I have to show him I'll support anything and everything he wants to do with his life. No matter how big or small, I'll have his back the whole time."

Outside, Marco could only smile. The things Star did & said to prove her love for him constantly blew him away. If only she wasn't so _hard_ on herself all the time.

"And you know what's really stupid about all this?" Star continued after a brief pause. "It's that I _know_ Marco's gonna take all of this well. He always does. Nothing I screw up seems to upset him that much, and...and I think that's what bothers me."

"Why do you say that?"

"I mean...between the stringing him along with his feelings for so long and me not always putting his needs & wants first, I guess I just feel like he should be angrier at me than he is. I think that way about a lot of people in my life..."

"And what do you think them being angry at you will accomplish?"

She shrugged. "If I knew the answer to _that_, would I really need to be here?" Sound logic. "I-I know that all of that time on Mewni and that nonsense is gone. I'm never going to get it back. And yet...I still feel like I need to atone for the things - the people - that I broke while having to deal with all of it. But right now it feels like the only thing broken...is _me_. And it's even worse because sometimes I feel like...I feel like I don't _deserve_ the chance to fix things."

Outside, the others shared hugs with each other as they fought to cope with Star's honest assessment of herself.

"Even if your self-assessment were correct, don't you think there's a reason your friends and loved ones continue to stick by you?"

Star slowly lifted her head to look Cassandra in the eye. "Because they love me?"

Cassandra nodded. "Tell me...do you feel like you're giving one hundred percent effort to being a better person & overcoming your insecurities & doubts?" She got a silent nod from Star. "At the end of the day that's the most we can ask of ourselves and of others. Dwelling on your past can be painful - and it's far easier to say you should stop doing so than to actually put it into practice - but when you finally figure out how to do it, your outlook on life will dramatically improve."

"That'll be nice to look forward to. It sucks to constantly have your mind betray you like mine betrays me."

"On the bright side, you seem to have a fantastic support network behind you."

"I really do. To say that they've been treating me like royalty since...well, you know...would be the understatement of the decade. _Especially_ Marco. He's been unbelievably patient with me."

"Are you feeling more comfortable with this new arrangement with your support network?"

Star hesitated, a conflicting answer entering her mind. "I...I'm not sure. It's such a struggle in my head. It feels like the more they do for me now, the more I'm gonna have to repay them later. A-And they've said over and over that it's not the case and that they're more than happy to do it. I don't know, it feels like I have two minds, the one that listens & understands to everything they say & take it in stride, and then the bad mind that twists & contorts _everything_ to make it seem terrible. I _so badly_ want to love and embrace that my mom is just a completely different person with me now: overly affectionate, always praising me for the smallest things, making me feel like I'm the most important girl in the world. I mean everyone's like that with me, but she's the last person I ever expected it from."

On the outside, Moon turned her gaze to the floor, a mountain of emotions filling her own mind. She was met with hugs from both River & Marco, the boy's anxieties towards Moon slowly fading away.

"It's not fun to constantly be killing yourself for things that don't really matter that much in the grand scheme." Star continued, preparing to wind down her session. "Maybe if I can just muddle through the party tomorrow things will start to get better."

Cassandra checked her watch to gauge the time. "Just two more questions before I let you go. How's your heart?"

Star slowly stood up. "My heart?" She put a hand on her chest & winced; the irregular & sometimes aggressive beat of her blood-pumper took her aback. "It's more annoying than painful, but I've had my moments of pain. Everyone's been super careful around me both physically & emotionally to make sure they don't accidentally set off another heart episode."

Cassandra nodded along. "I see. Just one more. Have you had any..." She couldn't find it in her to finish her question, but Star didn't need her to. She picked up immediately what it would be.

"Suicidal thoughts?" Star remained quiet for a brief moment, a short moment of doubt clouding her head. "N-No, I haven't." She said firmly, though a hint of uncertainly came through in her tone.

Cassandra, however, accepted the answer and patted Star's shoulder. "I'll see you next time. Take care of yourself."

Unsatisfied with the shoulder pat, Star went in for a hug. "Thank you." With that, she departed and exited the room, rejoining her family & friends in the waiting room as they all prepared to head out. But Star stopped just before getting to the exit, which Janna took notice of.

"You okay?"

Star turned to face her. "I just realized: I never got Marco a birthday present."

Sensing a potential meltdown, Janna grabbed hold of the girl's arms to restrain her. "Easy there, Star. I got you covered."

"...Yeah?"

"Yup. Do you guys still have the footage from your getaway?"

* * *

The following day came - the day of Marco's birthday party. Star & Janna were finishing up in the former's room with the latter's laptop. It was all part of Star's gift to Marco. "And...done." Janna said, removing a CD from her laptop, putting it in a CD case, and showing it off. "Your birthday present to your boyfriend is all ready to go."

Star clapped her hands in glee. "OH my gosh Janna _thank you_!" She shouted, carefully taking the CD from her. "He's gonna be _so_ surprised! I _so_ owe you one."

"Naw, consider it on the house."

Star unconsciously put her hands on Janna's shoulders. "You're a lifesaver."

"I try." A moment of awkward silence followed. Star - whether intentionally or not - kept her hands gently on Janna's shoulders. Janna took a breath and smiled. "Make it quick."

"Yay!" And Star pulled Janna in for a very tight hug, grateful for the help she provided. The hug lasted just a _little _bit too long for Janna's liking, though Star got lost in the affection she was offering to realize this; only after Janna tapped her shoulder a few times did she get the message, departing from the hug. She looked at her with a clear look of embarrassment on her face. "I-Is my face red?"

"A little." Janna nodded.

"...Shoot. Sorry." She looked away and rubbed her arm in discomfort. Janna chuckled and patted Star's shoulder again.

"For what it's worth...I'm flattered." She said before departing the room. "Meet you downstairs!"

Janna & Star returned to the throne room to meet up with their other friends, plus Star's family _and_ Marco's family. There was a tall cake sitting in the center of the long meal table. They were all eagerly awaiting Marco's arrival. A few moments of casual conversation between the parties passed. Then, out of nowhere...

**_Boom!_**

A few smoke bombs went off near the ground, clouding them in thick but harmless smoke, shrouding their vision. Amongst the coughing came a loud screech as a figure seemingly dropped from the ceiling and began playfully tackling each member of the party, hysterical laughter ensuing. It was indeed Marco Diaz, surprising his own friends at his birthday party.

"M-Marco!" Star yelled in a muffled manner as she pried the boy off of her, still laughing. "What the heck?"

"What? Did you really think I'd just walk in through the door like a normal person? I'm anything _but_ normal!" Soon enough Marco found himself surrounded by everyone else, all wishing him a happy birthday.

The party itself was fairly low key. The friends had all worked together to salvage whatever they could after Star's efforts failed. That it was much more casual than originally intended was disappointing for Star, but it wasn't a bother for Marco in the slightest. For him, getting to be surrounded by all of his friends & loved ones was more than enough, and he relished every minute of it, casually conversing with people he hadn't talked to all that much within the past year, catching up with others, hanging out with his ex-girlfriend, etcetera. It was a joyous experience.

At one point Star and Marco found themselves alone and away from the rest of the party. Star was in considerably better spirits compared to earlier in the week, and Marco's face was beaming with pride. "I'm sorry the party's kind of a dud." But she still felt a bit of guilt over the failures of her efforts to make the party as spectacular as possible.

"Dud? You kidding? It's _perfect!_" He said proudly. "I'm surround my all of my family & friends and we're all having a great time. What more could I want?"

A smile crossed her face. "You sure? I-I wanted it to be a lot bigger than this. I had so many ideas planned and none of them panned out..."

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't need to do any of that."

"Yeah I know, I know. I just wanted to do something special for you. You know, to..."

"Make it up to me for last year?"

Star's heart dropped. She had forgotten they were listening in on her session the day prior. "Y-Yeah..." She looked at the ground.

"_And_ to send me off to college if I was going?"

She looked back up almost instantly, a smile crossing Marco's face now. "You...you mean you're not?"

"Well not _tomorrow_!" He chuckled. "Star, come on, don't you think I'd say anything about going away before I actually left? You don't think I'd just leave you and everyone else in the dust, do you?"

She loudly sighed, rubbing her temples. "I guess you're right. I don't know, I just kinda started thinking about stuff from the past year, and..."

"You mean _Sir Marco The Quitter?"_

Why was he tormenting her this way? Because it was funny, that's why, as both he and Star got into a fit of laughter over it. "I really get worked up over the dumbest crap, don't I?"

"You said it, not me." The two shared a warm embrace, something that never failed to lighten Star's mood no matter how down in the dumps she was.

"I'm sorry about this. I had - I _have_ \- a lot of stuff on my mind. The other day, when you left the kitchen...I shouldn't have done this, but..."

"What?"

"...I peeked at your laptop, and I saw that long list of colleges a-and I just assumed you were looking at all of them. I-I wanted this to be my chance to show you that I had your back no matter what happened. I-I came off as unsupportive over your life's dreams and ambitions, and I wanted to apologize for that."

"Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but...come on, you _really_ think I wouldn't keep you in the loop about that?"

She nervously chuckled. "I know, I'm being stupid. Look, whatever happens...whatever you decide to do with your life, wherever you decide to _go_...you have my unconditional support. That's never going to waver. I love you, Marco. I want you to get _everything_ you want out of life, and if we have to...you know, work around you going away to make that happen, we will."

"Of course we will. But...that's a long ways away."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. Looking for a college isn't a simple or quick process. There's so many different factors that play into it, like...what you want to study, where the school is actually located, the cost of enrolling...and that's just off the tip of my tongue. You don't have to worry about me going anywhere for a good long time. I'm intentionally taking the summer off. The earliest I'd go off to college would be early next year, if that."

"If?"

He sighed, scratching behind his ear unconsciously. "The truth is...I haven't really figured out what I want to do going forward. I've...I've got _so_ many options I could pursue, and I need some time to just sort everything out and figure out a plan. Plus I made a promise to you that I have no intention of breaking."

"Promise? Oh, you mean the home vacation thing..." She playfully rolled her eyes.

"That reminds me. I think you could use a spa day tomorrow."

Another eye roll. No, he was not letting this go; secretly, that delighted her. "Oh Marco..."

"My point is, I've got plenty of time to figure out what I want to do and I won't leave you in the dust to guess for yourself. We're a team. We're in this together."

"You're right about that. But whatever you _do_ decide to do, I'll be right here cheering as loud as I possibly can for you to be successful. You deserve to get _everything_ you want out of life."

Another warm smile. "Thank you. And so do you. And I look forward to you being there right by my side to experience all of it."

"That's _definitely_ worth living for." They embraced once more, this time interlocking in a kiss. "Oh, gift! Your birthday gift!" She feverishly reached into her pocket and pulled out the CD that Janna helped her whip up. "It's not much and it's not fancy, but...you remember how you were filming _everything_ on our getaway? Well, Janna introduced me to the world of video editing and helped me whip up something nice for you using that footage."

He took the CD from her; memories of their getaway began flashing through his mind, and it brought smiles and tears to his face. "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! I've been meaning to do something with that footage." He chuckled. "Guess you beat me to the punch. Heck, I...I don't even think we've shared much of it with the others."

"You wanna go fix that?" Marco nodded and founded his arm being grabbed by Star and tugged towards everyone else not too far away from them. "Hey guys! You wanna see highlights from our getaway?" Her question drew a lot of excitement from the crowd. "You go get your laptop, I'll get the cake." She took exactly one step towards the table before stopping, gears in her brain rapidly turning. "Cake...ca-OH NO, LUDO!"

"...Ludo?"

Upon the utterance of that name, the monster himself leaped out of the cake sitting on the table and fell to the floor, drawing gasps and shrieks from the others. Star covered her face in horror; Marco's jaw was on the ground, dumbfounded. Ludo withered in pain for a few seconds, before beginning the process of standing up. He took an awkward-looking pose once he got to both his feet. "Ta-da!" He shouted, clearly dizzy from hitting the floor. "H-Happy birfday, Mako!"

"...Ludo!?" Marco said again, turning to Star. "The heck-"

"He wanted in on the preparations but it was so late and we were too deep in, so I said he could surprise you."

"But in the cake!?"

"Don't fret. It was Janna's idea. See we were never gonna actually _eat_ that cake. It was just for show, like-" Unconsciously she glanced over at what remained of the cake...and discovered that Ferguson had already taken a bite from it.

"Oh we're _not_ eating this?" He asked sheepishly, drawing loud & significantly annoyed groans from the others. Star shook her head and loudly sighed. She casually handed the disk back to Marco and yawned.

"You know what? I've just about had enough excitement for the week." She said somberly, the sleep deprivation from earlier in the week still hitting her head. "I'm gonna go to bed. But, uh..." She leaned in and winked. "Feel free to wake me up when you're ready for you _other_ birthday gift."

Marco got the message instantly. "You know I will."

"Why don't you just give him his present _now_?" Alfonzo asked, blissfully ignorant. "Save you the trouble of forgetting later." Literally nobody in the room was impressed. It was beyond evidence he didn't get the hint. Jackie took it upon herself to walk up to him & whisper into his ear. His face slowly turned from one of confusion to one of shock as the pieces started to fall into place. "Oh..._Ohhhhhh_!"

"Oh for the love of all things corn, even **_I_** figured that one out!" Ludo shouted, joining in the annoyance before turning to Star & Marco. "Congratulations, by the way."

"...Thanks." Marco whispered.

"B-But you kept saying she wasn't your daughter." Alfonzo objected, referring to Mariposa. Face palms abound by the rest of the group.

"She's _**NOT!**__"_

* * *

**End of Episode 7!**

**I think that's a good place to stop this one. It's funny how as a writer you can always tell which parts are the hardest to write to get to the parts you really wanna write about lol. Anyways, Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**As always, please read & review :)**


	8. Driving Mister Diaz

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 8: Driving Mister Diaz**

**Episode Summary: ****Jackie tries to reteach Star how to ride a skateboard, leaving Star with uncomfortable scars, both physically _and_ emotionally. Meanwhile, ****Marco prepares himself to take his driving test, while ****the Butterfly family all learn the hard way the wonders _and_ dangers of operating Earth-bound motor vehicles,**** all with hilarious results.**

**Original Postdate: March 7, 2020**

* * *

Marco finished combing his hair, putting the hair brush down and taking a silent moment to stare at himself in the Butterfly bathroom mirror. It was another big day for him. Today, Marco Diaz was going to go take his driving test. By the end of the day, Marco was either going to have himself a driver's license, or an embarrassing story of failure to recount later on. Either way, nothing was going to be the same for him after today.

And then came a knock at the bathroom door. "Marco?" Came the ever adorable voice of his girlfriend Star.

"It's open." He responded, and in she walked. Today, she was dressed down in more traditional summer clothing: a black T-shirt with black skater shorts & sneakers. She also had on a pink helmet, pink elbow pads, & pink knee pads. "Hey, look at you. What's the occasion?"

"Well, I figured since you're gonna be busy today, I might as well find something to do for myself. Jackie's gonna teach me how to ride a skateboard."

"Oh, that sounds nice! But wait...you already know how to ride a board, don't you?"

"That was over a year ago, Marco. And in case you didn't notice I was kind of _busy_ since then so I kinda forgot how to do it. I'm sure it'll be easy enough to pick up again, but that's not what worries me..."

"What do you-" The moment Star's face began to turn a shade of red, he needed no further prodding. "Oh, I see."

Star began nervously twiddling her thumbs. "I mean I'm not gonna let it be a problem when I'm with her, it's just..."

"She _does_ look good in her skater outfit, doesn't she?" In one fell swoop, he simultaneously teased Star about her crush on Jackie _and_ inadvertently revealed his continued attraction to her. The boy may no longer have pined for Jackie the way he did for so many years, but that didn't stop him from feeling a physical attraction to her. And now Star could finally relate to how Marco felt for so long. "Is it weird that I...still think she's hot?"

"Marco, you and I make love every night and yet _I'm_ standing here thinking she's got it going on. I don't think "weird" even scratches the surface here."

They both shared a laugh. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"I mean _this_ is a lot better than the typical self-loathing, self-sabotaging, and self-hatred I've been going through, so...yeah I think I'll be okay. Hey, do you...do you think I should tell Jackie...you know-"

"What you're feeling about her?" He asked; she nodded. "Do you feel like you're ready to?"

She shrugged. "Not really, but I..." Another loud sigh as she rubbed her temples. "I really wish you were there with me today..."

"I'm sorry about that. It's not like I'll be away doing just anything." He and Star made their way out of the bathroom and towards the stairwell, meeting the Butterflies and the Diazes in the main hall.

"I still don't understand why you need a license just to drive those Earth cars."

"Because you can't let just _anybody_ behind the wheel. Especially not someone really young and inexperienced. If we didn't have driver's licenses, we'd have little kids behind the wheel all the time crashing cars into anything and everything. Or worse, you'd have _dogs_ doing who knows what and causing mass hysteria!"

She gave his logic a brief moment of thought. "Okay, but like...dogs driving? That would be the _cutest_ thing ever, wouldn't it?"

"Not the point...but totally, yeah."

"Alright, but we _totally_ have to go out to celebrate later. On me!" Star declared proudly, causing Marco to raise an eyebrow. He let out a chuckle.

"Slow down there, hon. First of all, there's a chance I might not even pass. Most people don't pass on their first try. Second..." He leaned in to her and whispered, "_With what money?_"

Star's face dropped momentarily. "...Oh, right."

"Oh, wait, do you still have the money that came with your care package?"

"Y-Yeah, but I'm not sure I even want to have that. I want it to be _my_ money, money that _I _earned."

"Well, as far as _I'm_ concerned, you _did_ earn that dough, but that's neither here nor there, is it?"

"No, it's not. But thank you." She paid back his nice words with a sweet kiss on his cheek. Meanwhile, Eclipsa, Moon, Globgor, _and_ River all had faces that might as well have been a sentient question mark.

"So do...do _all_ Earth humans have these - what are they called again - "driver's licenses?" Eclipsa asked him.

"Only the ones that are legally old enough. Well, _most_ everyone who's legally old enough. It's different for each state, but for here you have to be at least 16 to apply to get a license. Why? Do you think you wanna give it a go?"

"Is that _really_ necessary?" Moon questioned. It was a difficult task for them to fit themselves into Earth culture. Sure, Star had done it so well, but there were aspects of it even she wasn't aware of.

"You can do whatever you want, but since we're on our way to the DMV anyway...wanna tag along? Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll be holding a driving class for you guys to take?"

"...Well, I suppose there's no harm in exercising our curiosity."

"Great! Let's head out!" They all made their way to the front door and exited, with Star and Marco sharing a farewell before departing. "Have fun today." He said to her, pecking her lips gently.

"Thanks. Good luck to yourself, I know you'll knock it out of the park." She responded with her own kiss and gently patting & squeezing his tush. "You got this, Marco."

"You know it!" Without another word, Marco, his parents, and the rest of Star's family took off, leaving Star standing by herself at the door waiting for Jackie to arrive. As the minutes continued to tick away, Star's nerves continued to steadily rise. It wasn't just that she was about to spend most of the day with her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. It was that she was actively crushing on her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Star's inner hormones were hard at work, and they promised to do their best to make this day complicated for her. But all of those conflicting thoughts subsided when Star found herself playfully grabbed behind the back by Jackie herself.

"Surprise!" She yelled, managing to squeak a laugh from Star.

"Jackie, hey!" Star responded, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. She looked off towards the bottom of the staircase leading to the castle to see Chloe standing there, holding two skateboards in hand: one for herself, and one for Star. There was a third skateboard - Jackie's - sitting on the ground next to her. "Chloe, hi!" Star waved to Chloe.

"You ready to shred, girl?" Jackie asked her with a wink. Star scratched her head, momentarily confused.

"...I thought we were skateboarding." It took Star a moment to figure out what went wrong in her head. "...oh, OH! Oh, that's slang-right, sorry. I'm good now."

Jackie, ever the calm & collected one, chuckled and laughed. "You're one of a kind, Star."

"Speak for yourself, Jackie." She gently punched her arm, her blush growing slightly stronger. At this point in time, Jackie was aware - at least vaguely - that Star had a thing for her. But she wasn't going to start prodding her on that until she was ready to talk about it, especially with everything else she was dealing with internally.

After a brief moment of silence, the two of them rejoined Chloe down by the street, with Star claiming her skateboard. "Okay, so what _do_ you remember about boarding?"

"Um..." She hesitated. Her mind had gone almost entirely blank. All she could remember was how to push off the ground and balance herself on the board as it rolled. A decent starting point. "Just that, really."

"At least she can balance herself." Chloe quipped.

"Okay, let's start simple. Star, do you know the difference between a regular stance and a goofy stance?"

The completely blank stare Star gave off in Jackie's direction was all the answer she needed. "...is there gonna be a test? Cause I didn't study." A very brief laugh before she, Jackie, and Chloe broke out into hysterical laughter. A great start all around. Was that sarcasm? You decide.

* * *

While that was going on, the rest of the group found themselves situated at the Echo Creek Department of Motor Vehicles building. As usual, it was busy as all get out. "I want to say that these crowds surprise me, but to be honest, I'm not really sure what I was expecting." Eclipsa remarked, noting the commotion. Marco clasped his hands together, trying to keep his nerves intact. His parents took note and embraced him.

"Don't be nervous, hon. You've done everything you can to prepare." Angie reassured him. "It's not the end of the world if you don't pass."

"We're proud of you, mijo. Always remember that."

"Thanks guys." He said with a nervous gulp. He eyed a door that was on the other side of the room; what was on the other side of the door would determine his destiny. "Well...here goes nothing." Without another word, he began slowly walking towards the door. The others stayed behind and waved him goodbye, exchanging wishes of luck towards him and leaving them to observe the place around them. As Marco left earshot, the group caught wind of a bypassing girl and her parents walking past them & towards the exit, celebrating her newly acquired license.

"It's always nice when these kids get to become productive members of society." Angie quipped.

"...how exactly does earning the privilege of operating your worldly motorized vehicles constitute being a "productive member of society?" Moon questioned; there was still much of Earth culture for them to learn. A male DMV employee approached the group.

"How're you doing today, folks? Anything I can help with?" He said sternly but with a faint smile on his face. River stepped forward.

"Good day, my good sir. I'd like to inquire about those...what do you call them? "Licenses" to operate your motorized vehicles. How much?" Silly River, thinking that money was the solution to all of their problems. Then again he _was_ a part of a monarchy for so long. The employee knelled down and almost-condescendingly patted his head.

"I'm sorry, little guy. Driving cars is for the big kids." He responded, which took River aback slightly and quite severely _offended_ Moon. She approached the employee and lightly smacked his face. Very little force, and not a mark was left, but her point was made.

"How **_dare_** you! He's my husband!" She shouted, almost loudly enough for the rest of the place to hear her.

"Oh, he's just short. I'm so sorry." The employee took a closer look at the Butterfly family, realizing who they were after a short amount of time. Needless to say, he wasn't exactly thrilled to see them. "Oh no, you're _that_ family."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

The employee cupped his eyebrows. "Oh nothing, nothing at all. So...am I to understand that none of you have a driver's license?"

Angie and Rafael sheepishly raised their hands. "Um..._we _do."

The employee turned to the, his cold face unchanged. "That's wonderful, Mrs. Diaz, but I wasn't talking about you two, was I?"

"We just wanted to be sure."

"How's your son doing, anyway?"

"Wonderful! He is here today for his driving test!" Rafael blurted out.

"Oh, that's today?" And suddenly the employee had a smile cross his face. "Wonderful! _At least **something** will go right today._" He whispered under his breath before turning back to the Butterflies. "Folks, we're, uh...we're holding a free pre-learner's permit driving course for newcomers. You're...welcome to sit in if you'd like." Globgor raised his hand. The employee sighed. "Yes?"

"What's a "learner's permit?"

"Everyone needs to have a learner's permit before they can have a driver's license. It's the law."

"Your world makes no sense!" River shouted in a haste, drawing some unwanted attention from around them. The employee could only muster a disgruntled sigh.

* * *

Back with Marco, he found himself on a curb, sitting on the sidewalk with several other teenagers his age. All of them were waiting for their turn to take their driving test. The nerves between them were hot enough to provide an entire town with heat for a month. Marco's hands were almost shaking with anxiety. One of the onlookers - a teenage girl around Marco's age - turned to him. "Nervous?"

Her sudden outburst caused a panic in him, nearly jumping out of his skin and sweating bullets. "N-No way. I-I always sweat like I'm in a sauna when I'm calm." He obviously lied. "F-First time?"

She shook her head. "Third. You?"

"I-It's my first."

"Ooh, you're on an island, bud." One of the others - a boy around Marco's age - said to him.

"W-You've _all_ gone before?"

"Yup. And we all failed."

"Is the test, like, really hard or something?"

"It's not the test. It's the instructor."

"...Oh, I see." He gulped, briefly showing paranoia on his face before it subsided and replaced it with brewing confidence. "Well, that's not a problem. I've faced bigger threats over the past year. A simple driving test feels like child's play." He quickly realized he had to backtrack or else he'd sound a little smug; a first time driving test taker arrogantly parading his confidence around people that have already failed the test at least once if not more was _not_ a look he wanted to have. "I-I mean comparatively speaking, I mean...I think..."

"Ohhhhh, I _thought_ I recognized you." The girl spoke up again, surprising Marco.

"...Y-You recognize me?"

"You're Marco Diaz, aren't you?"

"O-Oh, oh yes! Yes I am." He smiled nervously. "I-I guess my reputation proceeds me?"

"Which one?"

...That was not a response Marco was remotely expecting. But his confusion was put off to the side as the driving test car came screeching to a halt right in front of them. Out from the driver's seat came a dejected teen. His face read it loud and clear: He had failed. The others, Marco included, were quick to give her encouragement and offer back pats for the effort despite having no idea how she actually performed on the road. The passenger door opened shortly after that, and out stepped the driving instructor. And it was the last person that Marco had ever expected to occupy the role.

"Tanya Rodriguez?" Came the shrill voice of Marco's ever-so-calm - if only sarcasm font was a thing - teacher Ms. Skullnick. The girl Marco was talking to perked her head up and stepped forward, heading towards the car, all while Marco had to pick his jaw off the ground.

"That's me! Wish me luck!" The girl shouted nervously as she approached the car and got into the driver's seat, leaving everyone else to stew in their own anxieties.

* * *

Meanwhile, Star herself was experiencing her own difficulties with wheels. Turns out taking a year to do important stuff and not think about menial things such as skateboarding causes you to lose a significant chunk of the knowledge & muscle memory you had for it. Star found herself consistent tripping over herself while trying to keep up with Jackie and Chloe. Even the simplest of tricks - simple kick-flips, grabs, rail grinding - were proving to be super challenging on her board. There wasn't a single time that Star didn't stumble or even fall off her board entirely just trying the simple tricks. It slowly got to her and ate at her confidence.

After about the fifteenth time Star tripped herself up, the group decided to take a breather. Luckily for them they had ended up near the park, and thus they decided to sit under one of the big trees to take in the shade and cool down, both emotionally _and_ physically.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up." Jackie tried reassuring Star, sitting next to her under the tree and patting her shoulder. "You're doing great."

Despite her appreciation for Jackie's encouragement, even she had to raise an eyebrow. "Have we been watching the same thing here? I've lost count of how many times I've wiped out on this board." Star's body was covered in dirt from the numerous times she found her body hitting the pavement.

"Come on, you were off the board for a year. You really didn't think it would be _that_ easy to come back, did you? It was gonna be a little bumpy no matter what."

"Yeah, but I wasn't wiping out nearly as much back then as I am _now_. A-And I wasn't even using magic back then, either! That was _all_ me!"

Even Jackie couldn't argue with that logic. Star's sudden decline in ability with the skateboard was baffling even for her. Although for Chloe, the answered seemed pretty simple. "You're overthinking everything." She said, firm in her convictions. "You're so worried about trying to nail these tricks perfectly that you're psyching yourself out and throwing your body out of balance."

"And if there's one thing the Star Butterfly _I_ know never did-" Jackie continued for Chloe, wrapping an arm around Star's shoulder. "It's overthink things."

She lightly shook her head. "Then you didn't know me as well as you think. Sure I always _acted_ like I didn't overthink things but it wasn't always true. I just hid it better back then that I can right now..." She lowered her head and stared at her feet. "I can definitely _feel_ myself overthinking on this board. It's like the simplest tricks are just too complicated for my brain to process and it's literally turning to goo thinking about it."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it's like..." She stood up and grabbed her board, putting it on the ground and stepping on it, simulating riding it. "Half the time I don't remember what feet I'm supposed to move to do what trick, and then I just end up overthinking it and moving the wrong feet and then I fall over. It's so _frustrating_! It'd be a lot simpler if, like, I could really use my legs and it felt like my feet were actually in control of what I was doing."

Chloe and Jackie exchanged looks, perplexed at how Star could so succinctly describe her dilemma and her desires without actually realizing what she was describing. "You...do know that roller blades are a thing, don't you?" Chloe spoke up.

Star blinked twice. It took a moment for her brain to register the information. "Ohhhhh yeah...whoops." Her answer got the three of them to burst out into laughter. "You think that'll help me?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Yeah, but I don't actually _have_ any roller blades on me, so..."

"I'm pretty sure the mall has at least _one_ pair in stock for us."

"If nothing else, we get a nice little detour out of this whole thing." Jackie agreed, putting an arm around Star's shoulder, which internally delighted her.

"Now _that_ kind of thinking I can get behind." Her mood quickly improved, and a brief blush returned to her face. The three stood up, dusted off, grabbed their boards, and started heading out of the park and towards the town mall.

The run towards the mall wasn't without its share of awkward moments. At one point while they were running, Jackie tripped over a pebble and almost fell onto the hard pavement. She was saved when Chloe _and_ Star reached out and grabbed her arms, stopping her from falling. "We got you!" Star shouted as she and Chloe helped her up.

"Thanks. That was nearly a disaster." Jackie said with clear gratitude. "You both saved my butt."

Of _all_ the words she could've used. Star's face lit up and she struggled to keep her newfound blush hidden. "Yep, totally. N-No trouble. No trouble at all...saving your butt...and the rest of you..." Despite her attempt at hiding her flustering being obviously poor, Jackie brushed it off and gently punched Star's arm before taking off again, leaving Star behind with Chloe, who witnessed the entire event unfold before her. "...please tell me I'm not being too obvious."

"She _is_ quite the hot commodity, is she not?" Was Chloe's response, with a hint of smug arrogance to it. But playful arrogance.

"Oh "hot" doesn't even _begin_ to do her justice." Star blurted out quickly without a second thought. It was only after she finished her thought that it dawned on her what passed through her lips. In a hurry, she covered her mouth, sweat dripping from her hair. She looked over at Chloe, who winked at Star and patted her shoulder. "...I'm sorry. I-"

"Don't be. Trust me, I know what you're going through." Without another word, she took off to follow after Jackie, leaving Star by herself to contemplate. Her rising stress levels caused her to have a minor outburst, where she slapped herself across the face rather hard. But for reasons known only to extra terrestrials, it calmed her down. It calmed her enough to have her regain her focus & follow the other two towards the mall.

* * *

On the flip side, the Butterfly family had decided to enroll themselves in the free pre-permit driving course being offered. It was a small group of people, fitted for a more "hands-on" approach to driving, from learning the ins-and-outs to a functioning car, to learning the rules of the road. The male employee that met earlier with the Butterflies was running the course, alongside another male employee around the same age and height as him. "Welcome to the Echo Creek Starter Driving Course. My name is Warren, and this is my partner-in-crime, Dante. We'll be your instructors for the course."

"Oh, how nice." Moon said sincerely with a smile. The others in the family raised an eyebrow her way. "It's always nice when family can work at the same establishment, accomplishing the same goals & reaching the same heights."

The two instructors looked at each and exchanged a smile. "How nice of you, ma'am." Dante spoke up, as he and Warren held up their hands, showing rings on their ring finger. "We're married."

The crowd around her - her family included - all cheered this announcement. But the revelation quickly caused Moon's face to fall. "Yo...You're what? B-But that's horrible!"

And that statement viscerally offended the two of them. "Excuse me, but why is that horrible?"

"It's just unnatural. It's...distasteful. It's disrespectful. It's reprehensible! It's just not how it's supposed to be."

"If you think I'm just going to stand here and let you badmouth us like this-"

"Then explain to me how? _HOW_ is it okay for you to marry your brother!?"

_...Huh?_ That was pretty much the collective reaction from everyone in the room, including Moon's own family. Warren and Dante once again exchanged looks before turning back to Moon. Any boiling anger had been magically converted to confusion. "...we're not brothers. Not by blood, not by anything."

For some unexplained reason, Moon's first assumption was that the two of them were brothers. Fine, fair enough. On first glance, that's an easy and forgivable mistake to make. And yet she continued to assume they were brothers after they announced their engagement. A truly bizarre thought process indeed. It was made even sillier when everyone else around her cheered it on immediately without even so much as a second thought. It was a small group, yes, but one proud of the news nonetheless. "Oh...I see..." Moon meekly said after some quiet time. "...well, congratulations then!" She tried to put on a happy face, but the awkward tension only continued.

Dante leaned over to Warren and whispered, "Is she the mother of that girl that thought she was a magical princess with super powers?"

"Yes, that's her."

"Ouch...no wonder she lost her marbles."

"We still need to send her flowers or something."

They were only _barely_ whispering, which meant Moon heard _all_ of that. And she was not pleased, even though they were clearly showing concern for Star's well-being...while simultaneously insulting Moon. But the woman decided not to say anything further and stepped back, allowing the course to continue.

"Okay, so the first thing you all are going to need to know is how your motor vehicle functions." Dante officially got the course going. "Now...can anyone tell me what they know about how a car engine works?"

For the first brief moment, nobody said anything. Everyone there was essentially in the same boat: trying to learn the ins and outs of driving. But one brave soul decided to step forward & speak. It was River...did I say "brave?" I meant stupid. "Isn't that the name of one of those loud, rowdy...what do you call them, "rock" bands that you Earthlings like to listen to?"

Both Dante and Warren were left bewildered. Never in their lives had they heard such a spectacularly wrong answer. And yet all Dante could be fascinated by was River's height. "Is he her son?"

"No, they're married."

"But he's so _short_."

"That's what _I_ said!"

* * *

Back with Star, Jackie, and Chloe. They had arrived at the mall and picked out a lovely pair of pink roller blades for Star. Despite her current psychological focus on dark colors and the color black, the pink blades instantly won her heart and made the choice easy. But it was one thing to look good wearing roller blades. It was another to actually use roller blades without wiping out. "You sure you wanna do this?" Jackie asked the former magical princess. The girl nodded with a hint of swagger.

"Yeah I do." She said confidently. "These just feel a _lot_ better on me. But can I skate better in them?"

"Only one way to find out. Let's set out." Jackie and Chloe were about to set off on their boards down the street, into the unknown. But before they could, they found themselves stopped by Star.

"Wait!" She yelled. "I...do you think _I_ could take the lead on this?"

The other two glanced at each other, then back at Star. "S-Sure. You okay?"

"Yeah yeah, I just...I feel like I need to try something. Humor me?"

Jackie shrugged with a smile. "Sure, go for it."

"Thanks." During their earlier skating adventures, Star was always trailing Jackie _and_ Chloe, as they were reteaching her the ins and outs of boarding. But trailing behind meant she had a lot of time to stare at Jackie, and it frequently threw her off of her game. Her lengthy absence from boarding due to her princess obligations _was_ a significant factor in her struggles to regain her form. But it wasn't the _only_ factor, and she decided that going in front this time and not having to look at Jackie the whole time would help with her concentration. And for the most part, she was right.

Roller blading came much more naturally to Star than using a skateboard. She was able to use her feet and her reflexes to get creative with tricks & maneuvering, frequently impressing the other two. Star herself got so caught up in the adrenaline rush she was experiencing that she had to stop herself several times so she wouldn't lose them behind her. "Dang, girl, look at you go!" Jackie called out. " I don't even recognize the skater girl in front of me."

"I know, right!?" Star delightfully agreed. "I was just _so_ in my own head about this. It feels good to just let go and be free!"

"That's the spirit. You totally called it, you're _a lot_ better taking the lead instead of having to follow us." Suddenly, a revelation hit Jackie's face, contorting it into guilt. "Oh man..."

"...What?"

"That's what's been bothering you, wasn't it? Following me and Chloe?"

Oh, did Star ever have to choose her words carefully here. "...Uh..."

"I wasn't too show-offy before, was I? Because I didn't mean to make you feel like-"

"No no no no no it's not you! I-I mean it _is_ you but not _you_ as in you're doing anything-" The right words were escaping Star. By this point she was just stammering and it was obvious her nerves were coming back. In an act of instinct, Jackie hugged her; almost instantly that did the trick and calmed her fraying nerves. After a moment of embrace, Star parted and took Jackie's hands, her face completely red with blush. "I-It's not what you think. Promise."

This answer did not in fact lead to any relief for Jackie. It only raised more questions. "...are you okay?"

Star loudly sighed and sunk to the ground, carefully sitting down on the sidewalk. Jackie joined her, wrapping an arm around her and hugging her close, which only made Star's blush stronger. "I didn't want this to come up today, but I guess it's not playing out that way, is it?"

"...Star?"

Star closed her eyes and squeezed Jackie's hands harder. "Okay, look, you gotta know: I think the _world_ of you, Jackie. You're cool, stylish, awesome...I'm so glad you and I are good friends, and I would _never_ want to hurt you on purpose or screw up anything good you have going for you."

Safe to say Jackie was a mixture of flattered and confused. Her nerves were slightly treated when Chloe approached her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, as if to silently communicate to her what was about to happen. Jackie turned back to Star, who was beginning to sweat profusely with a face beat red. She could only smile warmly. "...Thanks. But I don't-"

"I don't like that this is happening, especially _now_, you know, with _everything_ going on inside of me, a-and you already have someone super awesome and I don't want to mess that up for you but I'm starting to think if I don't say something about this **_now _**I'm going to explode and-"

Again, Jackie embraced her. "Star...just breathe, girl. Breathe."

Star composed herself, taking several deep breaths. Her gaze was fixated on Jackie's affectionate green eyes, both silently encouraging herself to continue. Star stood up and started pacing around in a circle. "One or both of you are going to hate me after this, but I promised I was _done_ keeping stuff in and letting it fester so here goes nothing. Jackie, you've had no idea because I didn't _want_ you to know, but I have like the _biggest_ cru-" But before she could go any further, her pacing led her into the view of a giant billboard across the street from their position. This billboard was advertising a newly opened skate park down the street. "What's a skate park?"

Jackie and Chloe looked up in the direction Star was looking in, taking note of the billboard as well. "Oh, nice! It's finally open!" Jackie exclaimed.

"What is?"

"While you were gone for that year Echo Creek started building this brand new skate park for the locals. It has _everything_ a skater could ever dream of."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! And with your rad roller blading skills you'd blend in no problem. Wanna check it out?"

"Do I ever! Let's go!" Without further delay, the three set off in the direction of the park, with Star once again taking the lead and showing off her newfound confidence. "Skater girls in the house!" Star yelled, pumping her arms up in victory. Unfortunately, the confidence was short lived. Once again Star's lingering heart issues took center stage. A devastatingly hard pump caused her to clutch in pain and lose focus, ultimately causing her to bump into a nearby poll, which led to her grabbing it and swinging around it to get momentum again...which led to her rolling over one of her ankles and tripping over herself, where she smacked her head on the pavement. Thank goodness she was wearing a helmet.

"STAR!" The other two yelled, dashing on their boards over to her to survey the damage. They gently lifted Star off the ground as the girl slowly came around, dizzy as all get out. "Star? Star, talk to me." Jackie said slowly, holding up her hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Star focused intently on Jackie, her vision slowly clearing up but her mind still dazed from the impact. "Are...Are you from the underworld?" She asked, slightly slurring her words. "Because you're _ONE HOT MAMA._ Boy, you got some amazing curves workin,' babe!" Her laugh was delirious and it was clear she was quite out of it, despite the fact that her inhibitions had been lowered leading to this brutal honesty. Jackie didn't know how she should respond. "...Where am I?"

"...I think we need to get you to a doctor." Jackie proposed. Chloe agreed, and the two of them picked her up and slowly made their way back in the hopes of finding Star some medical attention.

* * *

Back at the DMV, it was now finally Marco's turn to take his driving test. The car with Miss Skullnick in the passenger's side sat right in front of him. It was his moment of truth. Slowly, with the nerves inside of him freezing up like the arctic, he walked towards the driver's side. Hands shaking, he opened the door and got in. No turning back now.

"Are you ready, Mr. Diaz?" She said sternly, finishing jotting stuff down on her clipboard. The boy, through mountains of sweat, nodded where he sat, without so much as moving his head to face her. Skullnick, despite her stern exterior, took note of his nerves. "You might want to take a few breaths first." Her words took him aback slightly.

"W-What-"

"You have no chance to pass if you don't keep calm. It's just a driving test." The boy couldn't muster up anything further to say, but he carefully heeded her advice and began slowing his breathing. "See? Now you're getting it."

"...Wow. I-I'm surprised."

"What? You think I'd just let these kids go out and make fools of themselves when they're trying to make it as adults in this world? I'm tough, but I'm not heartless. If they're gonna fail, they fail on _their_ terms. That includes you, Mr. Diaz. It would help you significantly if you kept your mind on positive thoughts while you're taking the test. Like, say...your new girlfriend, that Butterfly girl."

Mmm, nope. Marco immediately caught himself and had to crouch forward to hide the obvious. Unfortunately, all the crouching in the world wouldn't save him from Miss Skullnick's inquisitive look. "...I'm sorry-"

"I'm not here to judge your personal life, Mr. Diaz. Just your driving skills."

With one more deep breath, Marco strapped himself in and formally began his test, pulling the car out onto the road...

* * *

On the flip side, Moon and the Butterflies were, as part of an instructional course, sitting in one of the DMV cars with Warren in the passenger seat showing them the ropes. Moon was behind the wheel. The car was not in motion at the moment. "Now _this_ is your dashboard. It gives you all the feedback you need on your vehicle. Anything from your current speed to any maintenance problems you may be experiencing...all of it can be found here." The Butterflies alternated in expressing their aww's at the scene before them.

"How fascinating!" River yelled out.

"There's so many symbols." Moon pointed out. "How will I know which one means what?"

Warren held up a booklet. "Every vehicle comes complete with its own handbook, detailing _everything_ you'll need to know about the ins and outs of your car."

"...I see."

"Okay, how's about we take a little spin around the block? Moon, will you pull us out onto the street?"

Moon nervously looked at the steering well, then at the gear shift, then at Warren. Slowly, with her hands shaking, she managed to pull the car out onto the street. She began slowly driving. And I do mean "slowly," as in _snails_ would look at her and mock her slow driving. Several cars driving along managed to bypass her, with the drivers giving her the stink eye every time. Each occurrence made her progressively more angry and on edge. At least we know where Star inherited her inability to handle stress.

"What is the matter with people!?" Moon blurted out after like the seventh car passed her for going too slow. "It's almost like none of them have ever seen a driver before."

"Calm yourself, ma'am." Warren said deadpanned, her outburst not even fazing him. "You can't get worked up over the other drivers on the road. You can't control what they do, you can only control what _you_ do."

For reasons know only to forces beyond our understanding, Moon took offense to Warren's statement; she turned her head towards him, completely taking her eyes off the road. "Excuse me, please don't tell me to "calm myself. You're not my father."

"No, I'm your driving instructor. It's my job to get you and your family through this teaching course unharmed." He said calmly before his tone became more harsh. "And don't take your eyes off the road."

"Don't you scream at me!" Now Moon's tone was becoming harsh. "I came from a world where technology like this wasn't commonplace."

"Yeah, I know that."

"And ano...what did you say?"

"I told you I know who you people are. You'll find it's more of a surprising the number of people who _don't_ know who you are."

"Is that right?" Eclipsa puped up from the back seat. "Are we what you Earthlings would call "celebrities?"

Warren cupped his eyebrows. "Yeah sure whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Are you making fun of us?" It was not a wise thing to cross Moon like this. And yet Warren continued.

"No, I'm trying to teach you how to drive, so you can at least be semi-functional while you stay here."

"Semi-functional!? Well, if you really do "know me" as well as you say, then you'll know that _I_ was the queen of a very proud kingdom in my day!"

"The only thing I _know_ for damn sure is that _your_ people skills are highly questionable..._at best_. Considering you immediately assumed the person I was married to was my _blood brother_. I'm an only child. The only family I got with me are my husband and my 8-year old son, who, by the way..." Warren pointed harshly to River. "Is TALLER THAN **_YOUR_** HUSBAND!"

He should _not_ have done that. The glare in Moon's eyes was incredibly frightening. "HOW DARE YOU! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO-" She hissed; in a fit of rage she pulled at the steering wheel, accidentally taking it off from its anchors. Oops. "Oh dear!" She shouted in a scare. Warren was mortified. The others was baffled.

"Oh no! Look what you've done!" He screamed in utter horror.

"I-Is that _supposed_ to happen?" Poor innocent Eclipsa asked. Unfortunately Warren's only response was sarcasm.

"Yes, absolutely. I _always_ hyperventilate when good things happen!"

Which proved to be a mistake. Eclipsa turned to Moon. "See, Moon, everything is fine!" It hadn't dawned on Warren that Eclipsa might not be accustomed to sarcasm.

"_**FOR THE LOVE OF CORN, WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE!?"**_

"Don't you scream at Eclipsa like that!"

"Don't even! Just don't even. Hit the breaks and pull this car over _now_!"

"Alright alright, no need to get upset." Moon nervously began patting her foot on the various pedals below her, desperately searching for the brake. Unfortunately, she didn't hit the brake. She hit the gas. The car instantly took off at a rapid speed, sending everyone in the car into a paranoid frenzy.

There was an oncoming car in the distance, driving fairly reasonable. It turned out to be Marco and Miss Skullnick. The boy too was struggling with his driving, but at least he hadn't detached his wheel in a fit of fury. Unfortunately, by the time he and Skullnick realized Moon and the others were barreling towards them, there wasn't anything they could do; Marco simply didn't' have enough time to swerve out of the way before...

_**CRASH!**_

* * *

As a result of this, Moon, River, Eclipsa, Globgor, Warren, Marco, and Miss Skullnick ended up bruised and injured, forcing them into a hospital. Coincidentally, it was the same hospital Jackie & Chloe had escorted Star to. They were all seated in the waiting room, awaiting treatment. "Really? Star's mother detached the steering wheel with just her upper body strength?" Jackie asked Marco, in total awe of the story he was telling them.

"Apparently so." Marco agreed, rubbing his head in discomfort. "She had no control, and by the time I realized they were barreling towards us, it was too late. I-I think I failed..."

Jackie patted Marco's shoulder. "I'm sorry, dude. You'll get 'em next time."

"Y-Yeah, _toooootallly_, you'll show em who is boss, that's for sure..." Star, seated on the other side of Marco, said solemnly, embracing him. She was still suffering from her concussion. "Y-You're awesome, dude, don't let that mean old teacher make you think you're not."

"Um, Star..." Marco laughed nervously. "Miss Skullnick's sitting right here."

"Yeah, ye-wait, Skullnick?!"

"Really? She was your driving instructor?" Jackie couldn't believe what she was hearing. As for Miss Skullnick, she peered over at the kids and quietly waved.

"Nice to see you all, too, I guess." She said deadpanned before looking away and tending to her own business.

"...Huh, what are the odds."

The boy was eager to change the subjected and turned back to Star. "So, Star, did you have fun today?"

Star let out a laugh that, if you didn't know any better, you'd speculate she was intoxicated. "Oh I _totally_ did. Today was _aweeeesome_!" She was not completely in control at the moment, but her sentiment of having a good time was real.

"I'm, uh...I'm glad to hear that..." He responded nervously, only to be comforted again by Jackie.

"She suffered a bit of a concussion, we think. She should be fine after some time, but she's not in her right of head at the moment."

"I can tell."

"But you totally should've seen her out there, dude. She was _shredding_ on her roller blades."

"Roller blades, huh? Wow...good for her." The boy took note of the pink roller blades Star was wearing. They _did_ look great on her, that was for sure.

"Oh, by the way...if she asks, she didn't say _anything_." Jackie winked, leading to a raised eyebrow from Marco.

"W-What's that supposed to mean?"

"_Heeeey,_ Marco..." The delirious Star said as she reached her hand over across Marco & patted Jackie's face gently. "W-Who's your friend here?" Jackie let out a chuckle, while Marco expressed concern.

"Star, this is _Jackie_. You went skating with her and Chloe today."

"Ohhhhhh right, right right right. Right..." A flirtatious smile crept onto Star's face. "Hey, a-are you from Tennessee? B-Because you're the only _ten **I** _see." And she broke out into even more hilarious drunk-like laughter, leaving Marco's jaw hanging open and Jackie laughing. "What a _**babe**_, am I right!?" The panicking boy turned to her again.

"But what about Marco?" Jackie jokingly played along. "You know, your _boyfriend_."

Star leaned in, crossing Marco and getting in Jackie's ear. "_He's sixteen, silly._" She whispered just loudly enough for Jackie and Marco to hear, right before breaking out into more hysterical drunk-like laughter. Marco's face lit up like a red Christmas light. Jackie couldn't stop laughing.

"I am _so _sorr-" His efforts to apologize were halted when Jackie embraced him.

"Just do me a favor. Don't tell her I know. I want her to say it when _she's_ ready. Even if it takes a while."

He looked over at Star, and then at Jackie, whose smile was insanely reassuring. It persuaded a smile from him. "You got it."

On one of the other waiting couches, Warren was furiously scribbling something on his clipboard, prompting a curious Globgor to speak up. "What are you doing there?" Which in turn prompted an annoyed Warren to look up at him.

"After today, I'm not taking any more chances. I'm writing my last will & testament." He answered rather bitterly. "I'm leaving everything to my cat."

The Butterflies all exchanged looks. Their knowledge of Warren's family life left the statement he had just made to be a bit confusing. "But wait...you told us you have a husband." River pointed out.

"_And_ an eight-year-old son." Warren finished for him. "Look, I said I was _married_, I didn't say I was _happy_!"

* * *

**End of Episode 8!**

**I don't know, this one feels a bit weaker to me than the other chapters I've read. Now I understand what story-based shows that need filler episodes go through, LOL. Still, I hope you enjoyed this one all the same because there were certainly a few instances where it made me laugh while writing it.**

**As always, please read & review! :)**


	9. The World According to Janna

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 9: The World According to Janna**

**Episode Summary: ****Janna spends the day derping around and ends up intruding on Pony Head's webcast territory, leading to hilarious hi-jinks. Meanwhile, Tom enlists Star and Marco's help to work up the courage to ask Janna out.**

**Original Postdate: March 19, 2020**

* * *

On a quiet, perfect Earth-Mewni day, Janna - sporting a sports cap instead of her traditional beanie - found herself quietly surveying the streets. She took note of the groups of people she found hanging around doing various daily activities. Along her work, she found herself passing by the park and taking note of Katrina and her Cornball teammates in the middle of a practice. She carefully hid herself behind a nearby bush, her head popping out just far enough so she could get a clear view of the action. Oh, not for _her_, but for her _audience. _Installed in her ball cap was a tiny camera, and it was live-streaming everything it was capturing.

"And there they are, folks. The Earthni Tadpoles, as they are now called," Janna narrated to her online audience. "Gearing up for the first ever Cornball league on Earth...Mewni...Earthni, let's called it Earthni. Easier on the brain." She took a brief silent moment to observe the practice, the intensity increasing as time progressed. "Looking as sharp as ever, these little guys are." Katrina was front and center, showing off her impressive skills and wowing her teammates. "And there's the team's star player, Katrina. Any of you Cornball players out there that still think she's a fluke...you better bring your A-game when her team faces off against you."

A few more minutes of observation, and then Janna abandoned her bush _and_ the park, off to find a new subject to film. Her travels took her to the place known as Britta's Tacos, a place that she remained banned from. But standing about 30 feet from the actual stand figured to keep her off the hook, or at least that's what she thought. "And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the home of only the _finest_ tacos you will ever have the pleasure of stuffing in your mouth. Echo Creek's finest delicacy and casual hang-out spot for teens or awkward adults that don't know what to do with themselves. I'd, uh, get in closer to show off the cooler stuff, but I remain banned thanks to...um...reasons..."

Out of nowhere, Oskar Greason popped into the shot. "She got banned cause she stole our 50-punch prize." He said without hesitation, embarrassing the girl.

"Dude! Who said you could cut in?"

"What? It's important to tell the truth. We're in a world of vast misinformation, your audience deserves all of the facts."

"...How do you know I'm filming?"

"You're wearing a ball cap. It's probably got a camera in it. It used to be one of my old tricks too. Had it on all the time around the ladies." A brief moment of silence as the weight of his words actually sunk in, and he responded in kind with a double face palm. "Shoot, I _just_ heard how that sounds."

"Aaaaand we're done here." Janna piped up before quickly walking away.

Her next stop took her to the Butterfly castle. Janna stood on the outside, gazing at its majesty, even in its still-damaged state. The camera in her cap continued recording. "And _this,_ folks, is the famous Butterfly castle, home to your resident magical lunatic Star Butterfly and her equally loony family." She removed the came and faced it towards her so the camera caught her face. "And occasionally home to boyfriend & lover, the Safe Kid." She winked, then put the cap back on. "Speaking of which, I wonder what our power couple is up to today."

* * *

Speaking of Star and Marc, the two love birds were cozying themselves up in Star's bed, preparing themselves for a personal day dressed in their sleepwear. For Star post-age of magic, personal days - coined "mandatory sick days" by Marco - became not only commonplace, but almost a requirement in her continued recovery from her physical & mental anguish. As for Marco, while he wasn't in nearly as bad shape as Star was, his girlfriend _insisted_ \- to both him _and_ their loved ones - that he join her on some personal days as well. His health & happiness were important to her and she was not about to let him constantly put her needs before his own without some kind of reward. So today, they were locking themselves in Star's room for a day of emotional R&R.

"Let's see...TV? Check." Star said pointing to the little TV she received in her care package stationed at the edge of her bed.

"Super cheesy nachos? Check." Marco pointed to the two tables - one on each side of the bed - each carrying a plate of super cheesy nachos.

"Do not disturb sign?" Star raced towards her bedroom door, opening it to reveal a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign planted on the outside. "Check!"

"Adorable baby sister?" Marco reached onto the bed and picked up his baby sister Mariposa - who was happily sitting up on the bed without a care in the world - as Star returned to his side. "Check!" Both he and Star kissed Mariposa simultaneously, sending the little baby into hysterical laughter.

"Now, Mr. Diaz, would you have the honors of being the first in that bed?" She gestured towards the bed.

"Why I'd be honored, Miss Butterfly." He climbed into the bed first, grabbing the remote to the small TV and turning it on. Star joined him a moment later with Mariposa in hand, sitting her down in between them and leaning in to him for a kiss. "Thanks for inviting me to your sick day."

Star hesitated slightly before leaning back in, this time for a hug. "Marco, you're _always_ invited. And I'm not just saying that to be supportive. That's straight up _fact_ from now on."

He was taken aback for a brief moment. "What?"

"I told my folks _and_ yours that if they're adamant about me taking these "mandatory sick days," then they have to at least extend an invite to you. You've already done _way_ more for me than you _ever_ should have had to do, all while you're clearly going through your own internal crap." He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She wasn't exactly wrong. "You don't have to talk about it with me if you don't want to, but you're not fooling me."

The boy's face emitted an aura of guilt. "I..." He sighed. "Maybe another day?"

"You don't have to say anything until you're _ready_, Marco. But when you are, I promise I'll be right there to listen to _everything_ you wanna get off your chest. I'm sure there's a lot..."

They shared another hug. "Thanks. I love you so much."

"And I love _you_." Star brought him close to her, about to kiss him, when suddenly their moment was interrupting by the sound - and sight - of a dimensional portal being opened in midair a few feet away from the bed. It was halfway between the floor and the ceiling, and out from the bottom popped Tom, who landed hard on the ground, yelping when he did. "Tom!?"

The demon boy struggled to stand himself up, but he kept his back to Star's bed the entire time, fearing he had intruded on a private moment. "I-It's okay, it's okay, I'm not looking. Promise!"

"We're decent, don't worry."

Momentarily he stopped struggling. He managed to collect himself and stand up, slowly turning around and confirming Star's statement. "Oh...okay then. S-Sorry, I was trying to portal myself outside the door. I...didn't want to intrude."

"Still having a hard time controlling that thing?" Marco asked, referring to the ray gun prototypes that allowed dimensional hopping. Currently, Star and Tom were the only two to possess them _and_ use them remotely regularly.

"Don't worry about it, Tom. I know how you feel. The other day when I was soul-searching and I hopped to Kelly's dimension I came out of the portal like hundreds of feet in midair, and if she hadn't swooped in to catch me I would've fallen to certain death."

"Yeah, we're still trying to iron the bugs out."

The two lovebirds slowly got themselves out of the bed, taking Mariposa with them. "So, Tom, what brings you along?" Marco asked him.

"Um, actually, it's...it's kind of silly, but..."

"Hey, don't be shy. You can tell us." Star reassured him with a faint smile. In the meantime Marco found himself having to fight Mariposa who kept begging to get closer to Tom. They had never formally met before.

Tom took a deep breath and closed his eyes, preparing his monologue. "Okay. I...I think I want to reinvent myself."

Needless to say Tom's answer caught the two of them off guard. "Excuse me?"

"I...feel like it's just time to try something new. You know, kind of like what you did, Star."

"But...why though?" Marco asked him. "Is there stuff you're not telling us? Stuff that you're going through that we're not privy to?" While Marco was chatting with Tom, Mariposa had wiggled out of his grip and crawled over to Tom, casually pitter-pattering his feet to get his attention. The demon responded by picking her up and holding her gently in his arms.

"N-No, no, it's nothing like that, it's just..."

"It's Janna, isn't it?" Star interrupted, confident in her answer.

"I highly doubt that." Marco rolled his eyes and looked back at Tom. Aside from the occasional arm shift to keep Mariposa comfortable, he didn't move, and his gaze remained locked on Marco. Ever so slowly Marco's face began warping into one of pure shock. "...wait...really?"

"I told you Marco, he and Janna had a _really_ good time that one day in Mewni." Star gently jabbed his arm with her elbow. "Janna just has that way of bringing out something extra fun & adorable in you."

"...I guess that's one way to put it." Marco responded with a chuckle, noting his girlfriend's loving sigh while reminiscing about her friend. There was a faint blush on her face. He smirked, which snapped her out of it as soon as she wised up. "Who's not fooling who now, Butterfly?"

Star rolled her eyes and turned back to Tom. "Don't worry, Tom. It's just a little crush, you don't gotta worry about competition or anything."

"Besides, she prefers Jackie anyway." Marco smugly said with a wink, piquing Star's outrage.

"MARCO!" She yelled, her tone one that was clearly annoyed and her face completely red now. In response to his statement, she licked her thumb and playfully smeared it across Marco's forehead. The boy raised his eyebrow. He was both disgusted _and_ befuddled.

"Um..."

"What? I'm not gonna slap you!"

"Honestly, I'd prefer it if you _did_." He answered, prompting laughter from all the parties. Yes, even Mariposa, whose childish laughter continued even after the other three stopped. Tom's attention was now completely fixated on this little ball of light, who reached her tiny arms out towards him. The demon turned to the two lovers again.

"You...You did say this was your _sister_, right, Marco?"

"Yes, Tom. She's my sister, not our daughter."

One more look back at the baby, whose face lightly touched his, prompting her to lightly kiss his cheek. Instantly, he was smitten. Hearts in his eyes, he said, "I will pay you whatever you ask, just let me have her."

Prompting even more laughter from them all. He handed the baby back to Marco. "Tom, are you sure this is something you want?"

"I don't know. I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Star seemed to adjust to her radical change just fi-"

"No no, I mean...asking Janna out."

"...Oh."

"Yeah, Tom, you're not fooling anyone. It's not a reinvention you want. You just want to gather up enough confidence to ask her out, right?"

"Well...I think I do."

"Well, okay, that's awesome. But you don't gotta reinvent yourself for that."

"You sure? I-I mean I've been thinking about this a lot, and it kinda dawned on me: I...I never actually asked _you_ out...you know, on any dates or anything. We just sorta _did stuff_ together. I've never actually asked a girl out before."

"Okay, so you just wanna know how to ask someone out: that's simple enough."

"Simple" is not a word that seems to be in our dictionaries." Marco uttered, which got some chuckles from the lot of them. "So...Janna, huh?"

"Yeah. Star was right: that one day I spent with her on Mewni...I felt _way_ more comfortable spending time with her than I ever did with you. I-I don't want to sound like-"

"No, no no no, I get it." Star said with a sincere smile. "I'm telling you, Tom, you're gonna _adore_ Janna."

"So...does that mean you'll help me?"

She looked over at her boyfriend and sighed with a hint of frustration sprinkled in. "I...I'd love to, but I promised Marco we'd have a day of nothing together. I don't want to break it off when-"

"Whoa, hold up. Star, I'm fine. Promise." He smiled at her. She wasn't buying it.

"Marco...you're not fine." She said somberly, rubbing her arm in discomfort again. "Okay? I know you're not. Our sick day today was going to be awesome, and if anyone deserves it, it's you, a-"

"And we could still have it afterwards, you know. It's not like this'll take all day...right?"

The girl gave out a loud and long sigh before composing herself again. "Alright, I guess I don't see the harm."

"Alright, it's on!" Marco's enthusiasm was enough to elicit a loud babbling cheer from Mariposa, who was still in Tom's arms. The three of them joined together to laugh with the adorable child.

* * *

Back with Janna, who was returning to her home, having gone to a few other locations after the Butterfly castle to film. She walked towards her front door, now with her cap in hand so the camera was filming her. "And now let's take a trip inside the house. _Maybe we'll catch my folks doing something they, uh...**promised** they wouldn't do._" She whispered that last sentence. "We don't need any mini Jannas running around here just yet-"

"**_HOLD IT!_**" Came a booming voice from the sky. It turned out to be none other than Pony Head, zooming down rapidly towards Janna...and she did not appear happy. "Y'all got some nerve Jonie!"

"...it's _Janna_."

"Whatever. Like, who do you think you are stepping on _my_ turf?" Pony Head hissed. Janna looked back at her front door, then back again at Pony Head.

"...Um...this is _my_ house, last I checked."

"Not the house, dummy! Your little web show!"

Oh..._that_. "You're kidding, right?"

The disembodied pony scoffed and huffed. "Do I _look_ like I'm kidding?"

"...no, you look like a disembodied pony." Probably not the best response to give, even if it was intended as a joke. But an undeterred Janna pressed on. "Furthermore, I'm not stepping on anything. I don't remember any rules saying you were the only one allowed to have their own show."

"W-Well, not _technically_, but come on, fool. We both know this is what I was made for."

"Okay, but like..._me_ wanting to do my own show is literally not interfering with _you_ wanting to do your own show. What part of that are you having trouble understanding?"

"Don't try to confuse me with your big words. You know what-come on, follow me. Imma show you somethin'."

"Oh, this should be fun."

Pony Head furiously guided Janna back to her "The Pony Head Show" studio, where the cameras were all set up and ready to go. "See, look at all this, fool!" Pony Head exclaimed, drawing attention to the high production values of her set. "_This_ is what a show looks like. The lights, the colors, the fancy equipment, the works. You think this all came together overnight? You think it was easy to get everything to work the way I wanted it to? No! Like not even close, fool." Janna could only roll her eyes at Pony Head's hubris. "If you wanna be number one, you gotta put in the work! Your set up is, like, stupidly lame."

"First of all, I literally just started, like, a week ago. Second of all, bigger does not always mean _better_. And thirdly, again, why do _you **care**_?"

"Because if she doesn't have _all_ of the attention all of the time, she gets very cranky." Came a voice from behind one of the cameras. That voice turned out to be Seahorse - Pony Head's on-again, off-again boyfriend - who was _still_ on house arrest. "Trust me, I know."

"Hey, nobody said you could talk, nerd!" Pony Head hissed, eliciting a chuckle from Janna.

"I hope you realize how pathetic you look right now."

"Says the punk whose show ain't even nothin'!" With her anger intensifying, Pony Head got in _real_ close to Janna. "You listen and you listen good! You ain't _never_ gonna catch me! If you were smart, you'd shut it all down _now_!"

Janna wasn't insulted. She wasn't offended. She wasn't even angry. She was merely...befuddled. She shook her head. "Okay, I'm clearly not getting through to you. I'm just gonna leave now."

"Uh huh, smart move, girl. You _better_ run! You know when you're beat!" Pony Head's delusional mindest over her web show continued to baffle Janna as she made her way out of the set and back onto the ground into Echo Creek. She took her cap and faced the camera towards her, shaking her head.

"So, uh, Star...if you're watching this by any chance...how do you put up with her? Seriously, tell me your secrets."

* * *

Back with Star, who, along with Marco, was helping Tom out with his quandary: formally asking somebody out for the first time in his life. It was time for a crash course in romance and manners, which meant this was going to end in spectacular disaster. All while Mariposa was in her high chair, listening in.

"Okay, if there's one way to get on someone's good side, it's compliments." Star told him firmly. "Doesn't have to be super extravagant, it just has to be sincere."

"Sincere? Can I...can I do that?"

"Of course you can. Anybody can if they put their mind to it. Let's give it a shot."

"Um, o-okay..." The demon boy began to sweat a little, sensing that he would have to practice with Star. Luckily Star had a backup plan in place.

"Oh don't worry, you're not going to be practicing with _me_." She reassured him. "I figured that would be a bit too awkward for...for us..." She briefly looked away in shame before returning her gaze to him. "So I have someone else you can practice with-"

"It's Marco, isn't it?" Tom was not impressed. Nor was he wrong.

"Will you just roll with this, please? We're trying to help you." Tom rolled his eyes, but ultimately relented. "Oh _Princess_!" She cat-called, garnering a raised eyebrow from the demon.

"...Princess?"

Just like clockwork, Marco tip-toed down the stairwell...dressed in his Princess Turdina outfit, hair dolled up and everything. Tom's jaw nearly hit the ground, Star's face completely lit up in delight, and Mariposa began uncontrollably laughing and clapping her hands in the most adorable way, getting louder as Marco entered the kitchen where they rest of them were. "_You rang?_" He said in his most authentic Princess Turdina voice. "Why hell there, Mr. Lucitor. My, aren't you a strapping young man."

Tom's jaw continued to hang. Princess Turdina was a concept he was never formally introduced to. Sure there was the fight against Meteora where Marco assumed the identity, but that was in the middle of an intense fight for the survival of Star's kingdom; there wasn't really any time to think about personal things. But there was time now. And the thoughts racing through his head were...not at all the thoughts Star expected him to have. "Tom, why don't you say hello to your date?" She teased.

He responded in kind by literally ripping off both of his ring fingers. Literally, he tore them off of both hands like they were paper and held them out towards Marco. "**_MARRY ME_**!"

Star and Marco immediately expressed total confusion and shock. "Oh my gosh, Tom, what are you doing!?" Star shrieked.

"Put them back! Put them back!" Marco joined in. Tom, scratched his head, put the fingers back onto his hand, with the fingers reattaching almost instantaneously.

"...sorry."

"Okay, but like...what **_was _**that?!" Star shouted, eliciting strong laughter from the baby.

"Oh, demons can detach and reattach limbs like this at will. It's a gift!"

"...not the answer I expected but whatever."

"What? Oh, you mean the other thing...right...too strong?"

"I think that's an understatement, dude. You don't ask someone to marry you on literally your first date."

"And you especially don't do it like **_THAT_**!" Marco chimed in, which spurned even stronger laughter from Mariposa.

"Well, w-what do you want me to say? Marco...Marco just looks really good in a dress. Like..._really_ good."

That answer flabbergasted the two lovebirds even more. But Star broke out of it and took a good look at Marco in his outfit. Ultimately, she came to the same conclusion. "Well...he's not wrong, Marco. You _do_ look good in that outfit." She purred before turning back to Tom. Marco decided it was time to mess with them.

"Oh really?" He said, purring back. "Well take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Star, I...thought you didn't like poofy dresses anymore." Tom pointed out.

"No, I don't like _wearing_ poofy dresses. It's not important. But _other people_ wearing them is something I can get behind."

"Why don't _you_ like them though?"

"It reminds her too much of her royal status, which she'd rather forget." Marco explained. "That plus I think she hates the poofiness because it covers up too much of her bubble butt a-" And as soon as he got those two words out, his eyes shot wide open and he moved to over his mouth. Sure, that phrase did originate from him and she merely went running with it. But using it in front of other people so casually? Still a bit of a sore spot for him. He had nothing but respect for her despite their increased sexual activity & preferences.

Once again, Tom was left with his jaw hanging, while Star was left bewildered. Marco was thoroughly embarrassed, covering his face. "You...you called me Bubble Butt..." Star said slowly, still in shock.

"I-I'm so so-"

"YOU DID IT!" Her reaction was absolutely not what anyone expected; she was outright delighted to finally hear him use that term in front of someone else. "YOU DID IT YOU DID IT YOU DID IT!" She raced up to him & hugged him, bouncing up and down like she had just won the lottery. "I'm so proud of you! I _knew_ you'd come around!" After a little bit more time spent cheering and smothering Marco in kisses, she finally calmed down and came back to reality, realizing that they had gone a bit off the rails. "Boy, we've gotten off topic, haven't we?"

"...I think so." Tom agreed.

"Okay, maybe we should try something different. Maybe..."

"A new wardrobe?" Marco suggested. "Sometimes the outfit you're wearing can affect your attitude."

Tom shrugged. "Worth a shot, I guess."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, outside by the front door - hiding in a bush - was none other than Janna, having made her way from Pony Head's place all the way to Marco's house. She was indeed filming from the bush, now using her phone & streaming from there; she didn't catch all of what they were talking about, but she did manage to film Tom ripping his ring fingers off his hands as well as Star's overly excited reaction to Marco finally calling her Bubble Butt in front of someone else. "And that, folks...is my circle of friends. Man I really need to expand it..." But then a light bulb went off in her head. "Or...maybe not..."

* * *

And so Janna decided to stick with Marco, Star, and Tom, following them around as they went about the day, filming all of the action that she could. As for the three of them, they decided to head to the mall to help Tom pick out a fresh outfit for himself, one that would give him confidence. The first outfit they tried: a soft sweater-vest/khaki combo, in a similar vein to Marco's traditional "Dr. Marco, PHD" outfit. Tom was...not thrilled with the outfit. "...No, not feeling it." He said glumly, eyeing himself in a mirror. "It's just...not doing anything for me."

"I agree with Tom." Star said, turning to Marco. "You can pull off that look a lot better, anyways."

"Plus, I don't really think it would work for someone like her." Marco agreed. "She would see it as too...preppy. What else do we have?"

The next look: a hippie outfit. All of your typical clothing, including a multi-colored shirt & multi-colored headband. Tom pulled it off quite well, even showing signs that he was enjoying it, flaunting it. Star and Marco, however, were a little less impressed. They weren't thrilled with it. So onto the next outfit: A pharmacist's lab coat. Star found it to at least be something he could work with. Marco was completely on board with it. Tom, however, completely hated it. It was a no go. The next hour or so repeated this formula as such, with the group going through at least a dozen differing outfits. The three of them could not agree on a single one. To categorize the meeting as frustrating would be an understatement.

"Argh, this isn't working!" Tom yelled out in frustration, pulling off his most recent outfit and putting the clothes back on their respective racks. "Clothes make the man? Says who!?"

"Aww, don't get so worked up, Tom. We'll keep trying." Star tried to reassure him. "Okay, maybe a new outfit isn't the way to go. New outfits are overrated anyway."

"...says the girl that has like 40 different dress, legging, and boot combinations in her closet." Marco pointed out bluntly. "Not to mention a custom-made leather jacket and debatably provocative t-shirt, _and_ color variants on all of them."

Star mildly glared at her boyfriend. "...Dude, if you think my Bubble Butt shirt is provocative, you ain't seen anything provocative. Just sayin'."

Both Tom and Marco exchanged confused looks with each other. If only they could live in Star's head for five minutes. "Riiiiight..."

Tom, in frustration, loudly sighed and sunk to the ground, sitting pretzel-style on the floor and burying his head in his hands. Star, out of habit, went over to him and sat down next to him, patting his shoulder to console him. "It's okay, buddy. We'll figure this out for you."

"I just...I just didn't realize how hard this was going to be. You know...getting back to the swing of dating."

"Maybe...maybe that's the problem?" Marco inquired.

"...what do you mean?"

"Think about it." He approached Tom and sat down next to him as well. "When you were spending all that time chasing after Star, you were trying to make her your girlfriend, not your friend. You spent more time worrying about a relationship status than you did about trying to establish an unbreakable bond."

"That's not true, I was totally into being friends with Star!"

"Well, what do you really _know_ about her? Like, her favorite color?"

"Oh that's easy. Obviously it's pink." He said rather confidently. "Why else would she get a custom-made jacket in that color with the engraving and everything?"

Star shook her head and crossed her arms. "Tsk tsk tsk."

"...oh, what now?"

"Dude...I have color variants of all of my outfits, including the jacket and my Bubble Butt shirt. You wanna know why I do?" Tom nodded. "Because my favorite color changes like almost every day." She drew attention to her current outfit - a dark gray variant of her Edgar dress. "Do you know what my favorite food is?"

Tom's face went blank as his brain tried to process an answer. "...anchovies?"

Star's jaw almost hit the ground. His answer wasn't even in the right country. "No! No, it's nachos!"

"Na...Nachos? Really?"

"Wasn't it corn?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, for a long time, until all of the stupid crap happened and I kinda grew to hate magic and the monarchy and that stuff. Now I can't stand the sight _or_ smell of corn."

"Not even candy corn?"

"Marco I don't even know what that i-never mind." She took a deep breath, recomposing herself before turning back to her demon ex-boyfriend. "What we're trying to say, Tom, is the reason Marco and I work so well is because we got to be friends first. In the beginning I didn't see him as a romantic partner. Part of that was because I didn't know how long I'd end up having to stay on Earth, but still. We got to hang out together, be supportive of each other, teach each other our respective cultures...the romance didn't come until later. Sure, we had our issues here and there...a lot of which I-"

"_We._" Marco insisted. Star's insistence on accepting one hundred percent of the blame for the problems they all shared would never win out.

"_We're_ trying to work through. But we had that bond we forged through all that time we got to spend together. Maybe instead of trying to win Janna as your girlfriend, maybe just trying winning her as a friend first."

Tom remained silent momentarily. Could he actually do that? He wanted to, he knew that much. "...Is that possible? Could I-"

"You _totally_ could, Tom. You're charming, you're sweet, you're cool...honestly, you're a total chick magnet." Tom blushed at the compliment. "You just have to get out of your own way."

"...Thanks. But, now what do I do?"

"How about we bail and just walk around town for a bit? Maybe clearing our heads will let something else come to mind. Maybe we could grab some lunch or something."

So they all agreed and left, heading to wherever the day took them next. Just as they were leaving, someone popped their head up from one of the other clothing racks. It was Janna...and she had heard - and live-streamed - _everything_. So now she was inadvertently in the know about what was going on. Her mind suddenly began to race with a lot of conflicting thoughts, each seemingly crashing into one another like an out of control vehicle. It was so confusing for her that she even disabled her live-stream temporarily to give herself _some_ peace and quiet.

But that peace and quiet went away, as there was more noise coming from another rack just a few feet away. "_Did you get that?_" Came a familiar voice - Pony Head's, to be exact.

"_All of it." _Came another voice, which turned out to be Khrysthalle, one of Pony Head's sisters. Lots of not-so-quiet snickering ensued as the two of them made themselves known by floating out the top of the rack. The mere sight of them - not just in the flesh but observing their snickering & laughter made something inside Janna boil. She could easily read between the lines. And she didn't like the conclusion she drew.

"Yo I can't believe we just saw all that. What a loser!"

"We got enough juicy garbage to fill _two_ shows!"

"Like, how the mighty have fallen!" Pony Head exclaimed. "Our audience is gonna _loooove_ this! A demon prince of the underworld having the hots for a simple-minded Earth girl-"

"Seriously?" Janna spoke rather angrily, approaching them with aggressive stomping before assuming an arms-crossed, foot-tapping position.

"Speak of the devil." Khrysthalle spoke with a somewhat smug smile on her face.

"What is _wrong_ with you?"

"What? We're just getting material for the show. Nothing wrong with that."

"You're gonna put him front and center on your little web show just to shame him? Why? For what gain?"

"Views and attention, baby!" Pony Head exclaimed. "That's the name of the game."

"Besides, who are **_you _**to tell _us_ what's right and wrong? Don't tell me you just _happened_ to have that camcorder aimed at them the whole time and you weren't filming them either." Khrysthalle said, drawing extra emphasis on the camcorder Janna had. She was absolutely right, as up until a moment ago Janna had been streaming Star, Marco, and Tom from a distance. But unlike the two Pony Heads, Janna was prepared to take responsibility.

"You know what? You're right. I was live-streaming them the whole time." She admitted bravely. "And now I feel kinda dirty about it."

Khrysthalle turned to her sister. "Pfft, you totally called it."

"Excuse me?"

And back to Janna she turned. "You don't have what it takes to make it in this business. You have to be cold, ruthless, cunning. All that matters is getting to the top."

Once again Janna couldn't believe what was coming out of their mouths. "...it's a fricking internet show, guys! Jeez. You're acting like it's all or nothing."

"Because it is. And we're gonna prove it, too!"

"Oh what fresh nonsense are you cooking up now?"

"Oh we're talking about an exclusive!" Pony Head cheered. "You don't think you're the only one that understands how live-streaming works, do you, punk?" She and Khrysthalle shared a wink before hastily taking off for the exit, intent on following Star, Marco, & Tom. Janna felt the rage inside of her slowly growing. It wasn't even like she was particularly close with Tom. But she knew when an ethical boundary had been crossed, and she was hellbent on containing the damage done before it could get any worse. So she took off without another moment's hesitation to follow the two sentient horse heads.

* * *

Star, Marco, and Tom were casually walking down the street, taking in the sights all around them. The calm serenity of the environment around them allowed their stresses to temporarily fade away. It was just a peaceful, quiet walk among friends. But that was about to change. Khrysthalle and Pony Head soon enough ambushed the three of them, causing them to fall over on themselves. "Yoooo it's The Pony Head Show in the hiz-ouze!" Pony Head shouted loudly; she and her sister were now live-streaming their show.

"Pony Head?" Star asked, confused to see her floating best friend & one of her sisters before them.

"What up, B-Fly? Don't mind us, we're just, like, getting the goods in!"

"Goods? You mean for your show?" She wasn't quite getting it yet, but that would soon change. "Um, this is kinda last minute-"

"No no no, I ain't talking about you, girl. I'm talking about Tom, here! Like, we got _good_ stuff on him."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Marco asked, clearly unamused. "What are you up to today?"

"Don't act like you don't know, fool. You've been with him _all _morning."

Marco and Star's face slowly fell as the reality sunk in for them. The reality that Pony Head knew exactly what she was talking about. "Oh no-"

"Oh yes, fool!" Khrysthalle yelled. "We're talkin' about the fact that this boy - former demon prince of the underworld - went from pining over ditsy, air headed former princess of Mewni..."

Marco's jaw fell in offense, while Star had a clear look of infuration on her face. "Ditsy? Air headed?!"

"...to simple, born-on-Earth girl J-"

_**CRUNCH!**_

Before anyone could take another breath, both Khrysthalle and Pony Head found themselves being violently ambushed by none other than Janna herself. By herself, she managed to grab hold of the two floating heads and wrestle them to the ground, even knocking their camera away from them. It was a total free-for-all and a cavalcade of confusion among the others. None of the three could make heads or tails of what was going on before them, only that it was chaotic, unrehearsed, and filled with anger. Eventually the three decided to intervene and pulled the two pony heads and Janna apart from each other, leaving them (mostly the pony heads) in a screaming match.

"Hold on, hold _on_!" Star pleaded, holding Pony Head. "What in the heck is going on here!?" She looked over at Janna, who was being held back by Marco and look genuinely pissed off. "Janna?"

"Sorry, girl. I'm just trying to protect you guys." She said, struggling to escape his grip.

"...Protect us? From what?"

"From _those _two!" She gestured with her head towards Pony Head and Khrysthalle.

"What were they going to do?"

"You **_jerk!_****" **Khrysthalle hissed at Janna. "You're ruining our show for us!"

"You guys are the ones trying to violate someone else's privacy just for some cheap views!"

The gears in Marco's brain began to slowly churn, putting the pieces together slowly. "Wait a sec...were you two...were you two in the mall with us? Were you guys filming Tom try on new outfits for J-uh I mean for a reinvention of himself?"

"Uh..." Janna said slowly; Marco carefully released his grip and helped dust her off. "_I_ was there too. Separately, I mean. S-Sorry..."

"You were!? W-Wait, you started your own web show too?"

"Trying to. What? I was bored, sue me."

"Yeah!" Khrysthalle yelled, eager to get the moral high ground in this situation. "You can't blame us without blaming her! She's just as culpable!"

"You're right, I am. But there's one major difference." Janna took out her camera and fiddled with it for a moment, deleting the footage she had acquired of the other three in the mall. "I'm not going to stoop to your level, I'm deleting the footage."

Pony Head, however, wasn't buying it. "Yeah no, see, I don't buy it. Prove it. Destroy that phone thing."

...Nope, nice try. "Yeah, no. This thing cost me over a thousand bucks. If you think I'm gonna smash it or let _you_ smash it, you're an idiot."

"Really? _That's _what makes her an idiot?" Marco playfully quipped, earning a playful arm punch from Janna signifying approval. Pony Head, meanwhile, was left aghast, as was Khrysthalle.

"What!? Oh no you di'int!" She turned to Star. "B-Fly, back me up here." But Star chose to say nothing. "Hello!?"

"...Sorry, Pony Head. I _love_ you to death, girl, but they're totally right."

"Ugh!" She groaned as she and her sister turned to face each other. "Well this was, like, a total bust! Now what are we gonna do to get my show number one!?"

"...what?"

"Is _that_ was this was about?" Tom asked, a feeling of outrage slowly overcoming him. "Are you telling me that you were going to sell me out on your silly web show _just_ to get more attention & ratings?"

"Um, duh. That's how show biz works, isn't it? How else are we gonna stomp out the competition and any _newcomers-" _She hissed that last word as she darted her eyes towards Janna. "-who the real bosses are around here?"

"Pony Head, what are you even yammering about this time?" Marco asked, face-palming and cupping his eyebrows.

"Oh she decided to throw a temper tantrum when she found out I was trying my hand at a web show. Apparently a newcomer threatens her sensibilities or some nonsense."

"What? I can't have you stealing my thunder! You'd feel the exact same way if the roles were reversed, wouldn't you?"

"Kay, _one..._you don't speak for me. And _two_...you literally have nothing to worry about. I ain't stealing any of your audience. Aside from the fact that anyone that currently watches you could also be watching me - people _are_ allowed to like more than one thing, fool - my audience is very small. I literally have just a niche cult following-no Star, not _that_ kind of cult."

The former Mewni princess wiped her forehead of sweat. Star was somewhat educated in what cults actually were, and considering Janna's...interesting behavior, naturally she was suspicious before her worries were alleviated.

"Look, just enlighten us. Say you got what you wanted. Say you managed to get out to your viewing audience that Demon Man over there wanted to ask me out." With that sentence out in the open, Tom's eyes went wide open and he began sweating & shaking violently. Marco immediately leaped into action and rubbed his shoulders, frantically calming him down. "What then? Where would you go from there? How do you think you'd top yourselves? **_OR_** was this little stunt of yours specifically tailored to get the best of _me_? Me - someone who's literally only started their web show, someone who has a very small following, someone who genuinely does not care if they're the number one show on the web or whatever."

Needless to say, both Pony Head and Khrysthalle were not prepared for Janna's extremely laid-back attitude about the whole ordeal. Their entire plan to rile her up enough to care about her status as well as their dominance over ratings had completely backfired. And now with the added bonus of Star, Marco, and Tom joining in being annoyed at the two of them, there was only one viable option left for them. "S-Screw this, we don't need to take this from y'all!" Khrysthalle yelled. "Y'all's whack, that's for sure!"

"Let's go home! We can, like, salvage something for the next show and _still_ be number one!" And without a further word, the two sentient pony heads flew off away from the scene, leaving the four others behind. And now was the fun part: hashing out what everyone knew, as the cat was essentially out of the bag now. Slowly, Tom approached Janna, still sweating like he was in a sauna.

"So...I guess you know..." He said slowly and shyly. "Hoo boy, this is embarrassing..."

"Why?" She asked bluntly. "Actually, don't answer that." Tom loudly sighed and buried his face in his hands. Not even with Star did he ever feel this nervous.

"Sorry, Janna. About...you know, all of this." Star said. "But don't let Pony Head get to you. Who knows? Maybe she'll actually learn something from all of this and calm down ab-BWAHAHAHAHA!" She broke out into hysterical laughter shortly after. "I-I'm sorry, I-I can't even say that with a straight face!" She heaved heavily as Marco continued the conversation.

"We...were just trying to help him." He explained to Janna. "He wanted to get back into the swing of dating a-and we were trying to restore his confidence-"

"To ask me out?" She finished for her, earning a nod from both Star _and_ Marco. "Jeez, even after that adventure he and I had on Mewni, I didn't realize there was even anything there."

"_That makes two of us_!" Tom shrieked in frustration, loudly groaning again. Janna unconsciously patted his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, dude, don't worry about it." She said calmly. Janna wasn't _always_ up for being the one that provided emotional support, preferring to remain mostly stoic and "cool." But when she did, she was extremely good at it. "Seriously, cut yourself some slack."

Tom lifted his head slowly to look her in the eye. "...Y-You're sure?" He got a gentle nod in response. "...Alright...so what do we do now?"

"How's about we head to Britta's tacos?"

"Y-Yeah?" The demon wiped away some more sweat as his breathing finally came under control. "That...that sounds good. Oh, but wait-"

"Oh no no, don't worry about us!" Star interjected, assuming she knew what he was going to say. "You and Janna go. Marco and I are fine, promise."

"...That's nice of you, but no, I meant Janna's still _banned_ from that place, isn't she?"

"Ah, but don't worry, I have a solution for that."

* * *

Janna's solution? Go in disguise. More specifically, disguise herself as a teenage boy...for some reason. "Here ya go. Two pain-peppered tacos." Oskar Greason, manning the counter, said as he handed the tacos over to them.

"Nice." Janna spoke, masking her usual voice with a far more gruff voice. She took a huge bite out of the taco, chomping on it with satisfaction. A few chews, a swallow, and a burp later, Tom once again found himself in an awkward, lust-filled position. He hastily handed Janna his taco, then ripped one of his ring fingers off again, showing it to her.

"_**MARRY ME**__."_ He blurted out spontaneously, leaving Janna in an awkward state, with a mixture of confusion, disgust, and fascination.

"**_PUT IT BACK, TOM_**!" Yelled Star in the distance, who somehow knew that Tom did it again.

* * *

As for Star and Marco, they returned to the Butterfly castle to resume their personal day. But not before Star made a quick visit to her Rage Room. She was playing with some glass figurines, each other resembling people in her life. She rearranged them so that the Tom and Janna figurines were now together, and it put a smile on Star's face. Marco was waiting patiently by the door for his girlfriend. "Everything alright?" He asked sweetly before letting himself in and embracing her.

"Yeah, just rearranging some stuff." She answered, glancing again over at the Janna & Tom figurines. "Maybe it's just me, but...I think those two are cute together."

Marco studied the two figurines for a short minute. He couldn't quite understand it - how Tom could bond so much more naturally with Janna than he ever did with Star despite putting so much effort into winning her as a girlfriend - but then, maybe he wasn't meant to. "I...I guess I can see it."

"It's for the best. Tom told me all about that day on Mewni he spent with her, and from what he mentioned, he really hit it off with her...a lot better than he ever hit it off with me..." It remained a sore spot for her: him breaking it off with her, her not treating him as well as she should've, and then him hitting it off so easily with Janna. She was happy for him. Ecstatic, even. At least...that's what she told herself.

"You okay?" He began habitually rubbing her shoulders, which aided in easing the tension.

"...Yeah, I guess I am. I can't change the past, I just...have to accept it and move forward. Easier said than done, but necessary..."

"Hey, look, we still have the rest of the day in front of us. Let's go enjoy our sick day together. Maybe we can squeeze in some _steamy_ fun, if you want." He gently kissed her cheek; that combined with the flirty talk got a smile to crawl onto her face.

"Do you think you can _handle_ this girl's bubble butt, Mr. Diaz?"

"I would very much like to find out." He took her & passionately kissed her, patting her butt a few times before letting go. He started to make his way towards the exit. As for Star, she kept eyeing the glass figurines on the shelf. Her eyes took her to the one that looked like her; it was sitting next to the Marco figurine. She took it and held it carefully in her hand, studying it intently. She spent the next moment internally trying to ward off the impending demons. What was it about this moment that got them to invade her mind? "You coming?" He asked, his back still turned to her.

The next sound he heard, however, was the sound of glass shattering. He turned around in a frightened panic to see that the Star figurine she was holding was now shattered on the ground, with his girlfriend furiously stomping on any of the remaining big pieces. Her teeth were gritted and her eyes were furious. Luckily the rage was contained to just that one glass figurine. After a few more stomps she stopped, panting heavily and regaining her composure before turning to face him again. All that was left in tact from that one was the devil horns headband, as it lay right next to Star's feet. Once her breathing was completely under control, she smiled warmly at him. "Coming."

And without another second wasted, she raced to him, leaped into his arms, and followed him as he led her back to her room to continue their personal day together.

* * *

**End of Episode 9!**

**Just think that at the time of this chapter's posting, it'll have been almost 10 full months since I started writing Star vs fanfictions full time, and look how far we've come. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this one. It was fun, albeit tough, to write. **

**And as always, please read & review! :)**


	10. Mama Star Redux

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 10: Mama Star Redux**

**Episode Summary: ****A bad storm forces Star & Marco to take shelter in an orphanage that's been abandoned, forcing the two of them to care for the babies left behind.**

**Original Postdate: March 26, 2020**

* * *

It was the first rainstorm of the new Earth-Mewni world. And it was a significant downpour. Also quite windy. It was a doozy, and everyone that was currently outside was scrambling to find shelter somewhere. That included our two lovable dorks, Star and Marco. They were running along the sidewalk in the direction towards Marco's house. "Marco, hurry!" Star yelled in a bit of a frenzy. "This storm is nuts!"

"I can only run so fast!" He retorted. "Even after 16 plus years in the Neverzone, I'm only _so_ athletically gifted!" In their rush to find shelter, they passed by an alley. They would've flown by it entirely had it not been for Star catching the faint sound of a trash can falling over. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, running back to the alley and entering it. "Star!?" Marco yelled. "Come back!" And he took off following her. He managed to catch up to her on account of her stopping in her tracks, having discovered the source of the sound.

Turns out it was a little boy. Didn't look older than four years old. Unbeknownst to them, this little boy was suffering from Down Syndrome, and was developmentally behind most boys his age. **(A/N: This is Miles, the little boy that would ultimately become Star's new baby brother in "Beautiful Christmas" which takes places six months after the start of this fic) **The fact that he was out here all by himself was dangerous in and of itself. Add in the horrendous weather conditions and it was a recipe for total disaster. The boy appeared to agree, as his body language, faint moaning, and watery eyes indicated he was incredibly distressed with his surroundings.

"...Star?" Marco approached his girlfriend, keeping his eyes on the little boy. "...W..."

Star slowly approached the boy. "Hello, little friend. What's the matter? You lost?" She winced in pain, her heart giving her trouble again, but she stuck to it, sticking her arms around as she got close to him. Her inviting arms enticed the little boy, and he began slowly moving his tiny legs towards her. "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." The boy's mood quickly changed to one of joy; Star's infectious smile & warm body language calmed him. He finally reached her, only to fall down just as he was about to leap in her arms. The two of them gasped loudly, but any concerns they had were evaporated when the boy stood up again, smiling & laughing, and launched himself into Star's arms. "You're a cheerful little ball of cute, aren't you? Yes you are." Star turned to her boyfriend. "So what do we do now? We gotta put him somewhere. I don't think we can take him home with us. Even if we could it's too far away for us to make it without him getting really sick."

"I think I saw something a few blocks down? It was an orphanage, I think..."

"Orphanage?"

"It's a place that houses & cares for kids that don't have families."

"Aww, how sad..."

"Maybe they'll just take him until the storm passes. Let's go!"

So they raced off, with Star following Marco as he led her to the building in question. It was only a couple of blocks from where they found the little boy. It was a big building, but slightly worn down from the outside. Star took a moment to take in what was before her. On Mewni, orphanages were just not a thing. "Wow...it's huge." She said. "I'm guessing there's supposed to be a lot of kids in there."

"Well, orphanages also try to find those kids forever homes. It's not like they're meant to stay here forever." As Marco reached out to open the door, he noticed that it was already slightly open. "What the...oh boy." He opened it all the way, letting himself and Star in. "H-Hello?" He spoke, hoping that there was a rational adult in the building somewhere for them to talk to. "A-Anyone?"

"Marco...there's usually adults at these orphanages, right?" Star asked.

"Normally."

"And the doors usually aren't left open like that, are they?"

"...Nope." He shook his head nervously.

"Have you ever actually _been _here before?"

"Not once. I've never needed to. This is...new to me." They took notice of the front desk just a few feet away from them. "Looks like _someone's_ at least supposed to be running the show here."

"Hey, why don't you go look around? I gotta dry this little guy off and I'm _sure_ there's a bathroom somewhere." Star suggested. It was a sound plan, one that Marco agreed with. They both spotted a stairwell near by and went up to the next floor. Star found the bathroom rather easily & took the child with her, grabbing a big towel nearby & preparing to dry him off. As for the boy himself, he sat on the sink counter like a good little boy, babbling happily out loud. He may have been developmentally behind & struggling to form full words at the moment, but he was communicating just fine with Star, blowing kisses to her as he watched her prepare.

"Gosh you're so darn _happy_, aren't you, you little angel?" She said in baby talk to the boy, prompting even more laughter. "Yes you are. _Yes you are_! D'oh, I could just eat you up right now!" As she finished drying off the boy, she couldn't help but notice the sparkle in his eyes: he was looking right at her and was completely enamored with what he saw. His incoherent but happy babbling continued as she picked him up, kissed his forehead, and held him gently in her arms. "I'd make a great aunt." She said to herself as she exited the bathroom. "Marco?" She called out. Her ears perked up as she picked up some noise; it was the sound of many babbling children, and it was close by. She walked slowly in the direction of the noise; the noise getting louder told her she was going in the right direction. She came to a door and gently opened in. Inside it revealed her boyfriend Marco sitting on the floor, being tugged at by several other children - all of varying ages, the youngest being less than a year old and the oldest being maybe two and a half years of age - who were happily egging for his attention.

But the sound of the door opening drew their attention away from the boy and towards Star. It took a moment for things to process, but once they saw she was holding the other boy, they all began loudly cheering and racing over to Star, reaching their arms up for the boy. She smiled & put him down, and he found himself being gobbled up in affection from them. The boy couldn't help buy laugh hysterically at the attention. "Wow, this little one sure is popular, isn't he?"

"Hey, check this out." Marco instructed Star, getting up and giving her a tour of the room. It was a big room with lots of beds, one for each child. Each bed had a photo of a child and a name attached to the photo. Eventually they came across the bed that possessed the picture of the little boy they found in the alleyway. They finally had his name: Miles.

"Aww, that's such a cute name." Star gushed, turning to face the little boy, who began happily clapping his hands and dancing in place. "Miles...oh I _love_ that name!" She walked back over to him & knelled down to pat his head. "You're a super duper cutie, aren't you? Yes you are!" She opened her arms, inviting the rest of the children to hug her as well. "And don't think I forgot about the rest of you angels, no I didn't! You're all the bestest!" Marco took the moment to revel in the sight before him. His girlfriend might not be the most practical girl or caretaker, but she loved innocents. Be it babies or animals, she cared for the defenseless in her own way. "So now what?" Star asked him after a moment of playing with the children.

"I think maybe we should feed them? For all we know they haven't eaten at all today, if not longer."

"Ooh ooh ooh!" She started jumping in place. "Can I do it? Can I make them the food?"

"Uh, I-I don't know. Babies are different from us. Their teeth may not be formed yet, so they may not be able to eat solids. Some of them might still be on formula..."

"Formula?"

"You know, like, milk..."

"Oh so is it like when your mom breastfeeds Mariposa-"

"_**STAR**_!" Yet again Marco was in for a surprise about what Star did and did not know about Earth culture. "I-It's not-I-I don-How do you even know what that is?"

The girl put on an unimpressed scowl. "Marco...I've seen your mom breastfeed your sister. There's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just a part of nature, is it not?"

He began to stammer. "W-Well, y-yeah, okay, but how do _you_-"

"I was breastfed too, Marco. My mom was distant, not heartless."

He remained silent. He really needed to stop assuming Star didn't know _anything_ about Earth culture. "Okay then. You learn something new every day, I guess..."

"You got that right."

"Anyways...how about I make them some food, and you can snoop around the place?"

"Ooh, I get to be a detective! But what are we looking for?"

He shrugged meekly. "I don't know...anything that tells us anything about this place, some information about the kids, like any medical or behavioral records, things like that."

She saluted him with an eager grin. "You can count on me, Mister Diaz!" She stood up and took him in her arms, embracing him in a passionate kiss. "The dream team is on the case!" Her enthusiastic yelling drew the attention of the children, getting some cheers & laughter from them all. "Hey you guys, wanna go on a field trip?" Again, more cheers and laughter. "It's too bad we have the kids here, cause, um..."

"As soon as we get back home, we'll have all the time to make some magic happen in your bed. Promise." He assured her, kissing her again.

"Oh, you...oh wait, I thought we were sleeping in your bed tonight...?"

His eyes opened widely, as he scrambled to cover himself. "I-I mean, yeah totally, tonight's...tonight's my place, right..."

But Star didn't need to be a genius to see through it. "You _like_ having fun in my bed more than yours, don't you?"

Needless to say, he was _not_ up for this conversation at the moment. "We should get going! Who knows if anyone else is gonna show up here." And although she was now curious for an answer, she swept it aside for the time being, opting instead to focus on the task at hand. So they took the children with them back downstairs. Marco went into the kitchen with them while Star went right to work snooping around, looking for anything that would give them any information to work with. Moving around in an exaggerated, cartoony, sneak-around manner - one which thoroughly entertained Marco - her first stop was to rummage through the front desk.

The front desk was mostly neat and organized but filled to the brim with folders and loose papers. She started pulling all of the folders out. There were several folders. Each folder contained a different subset of information of the kids; one was labeled "required feedings" indicating it was for food, one was labeled "favorite games," another was labeled "medical information," etcetera.

She went through the folders one by one, starting with with the food files. Nothing out of the ordinary there, though she decided it would be better in Marco's hands, so she handed the file to him in the kitchen. The favorite games file was the same deal, nothing out of the ordinary. Seemed like unnecessary information to keep in an organized file like this, but hey, at least nobody could say the people running the place weren't thorough.

The medical information file was the last one to be opened. She had almost no hope of understand any difficult terminology, but to her benefit, the majority of the kids appeared to be in great health, according to the records. That is, except for one noticeable exception, and it jumped at her immediately. She took the file with her into the kitchen, where she saw Marco feeding the kids with homemade formula and/or foods, going off the file Star handed her. "Look at Mr. Mom here." Star joked, getting the boy to blush. "Wow...they're so quiet & well-behaved."

"I guess whoever's in charge of this place knows what they're doing. You'd think they'd be a lot more rambunctious." Marco replied before looking over at Star and the file she was holding. "What's that?" He asked as she handed him the file. "Oh, medical information." He quickly flipped through the folder, skimming through each page. He stopped at one specific page, one that Star had bookmarked by pulling down the top right corner of the paper. It was Miles's medical file. "Huh...diagnosed with _Down Syndrome.._."

"Marco...what's Down Syndrome?"

"It's...complicated..."

"Just give me the short version."

"It's a genetic disability; it affects how a baby develops when they're being born. It's not the same for everyone..."

"Is that why Miles looks so happy?" She pointed to the boy in question, who was laughing his head off while eating his prepared meal.

"Um...maybe? I...can't say for sure. But it would explain why he hasn't said anything in the form of words to us."

"People with Down Syndrome can't talk?"

"N-No, they can. They need...they need to be taught, just like anyone else. But the disability makes it...a little more challenging to properly develop them."

She turned back to Miles, who after a few seconds of staring, realized she was looking at him. He looked up at her and tried to wave his arms with a huge smile on his face, then returned to eating. Star beamed with pride, like any proud mother. "You're a little fighter, aren't you?" She said, ruffing his hair and getting even more laughs out of him. "You all are." She turned to the other kids. "Don't you worry, kids. We're not gonna leave you alone. Not until whoever's in charge of this place comes back."

"_If_ they come back..." Marco squeaked out, concern baked into his tone. "The door _was_ left open when we got here."

"Maybe they had to run out for an emergency or something? I doubt they'd just leave all of these innocent babies here unless it was absolutely unavoidable. Who even runs this place anyway?"

"That's a good question. Hey, why don't you go play with the kids for a bit? I'm gonna call my folks and let them know we're okay and then I'll snoop around some more."

"Don't you want to play with them?"

"Y-Yeah, but you're a much better playmate to kids than I'll ever be."

She walked back over to her boyfriend & pecked his cheek, embracing him in a hug that got some cheers from the kids. "You're sweet, but don't sell yourself short."

"If I can barely look after _one_ kid-"

"Oh come on! I told you Meteora doesn't remember _anything _from when she was Miss Heinous. That's all in your head."

"And I'm telling you you're wrong, but that's neither here nor there, I guess."

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, the storm continued to rage on. It was a downpour like no other. Most everyone was in their homes or in a building of some kind...with the exception of two people. One was a young, short, black male; the other was a taller, older-aged woman - likely in her late fifties - and both of them were panicking as they ran. These two characters were the ones who ran the orphanage that Star & Marco were currently taking refuge in. And indeed they were out looking for Miles, the young boy that had escaped earlier and was found by Star & Marco rummaging in an alleyway.

"MILES! _**MILES**__!_" They kept calling out for him, hoping for an answer. As this was happening, they passed by the Diaz household, where they stopped momentarily to continuing calling out for the boy. They found themselves so drenched that Angie & Rafael, from inside their home, had to step outside.

"EXCUSE ME!" Angie called out to them. "YOU'RE GOING TO CATCH A COLD OUT HERE! COME INSIDE!" Rafael grabbed an umbrella and opened it, protecting them from the rain. They started to run towards the other two, who were in clear distress.

"You don't understand!" The man yelled out. "We're looking for our child!"

"He's so young and lost and he's not going to survive out here!" The older woman yelled before beginning to cough.

"You're not going to find 'em like this! Come inside, get dry." Angie and Rafael whisked the two of them into their home where they provided them with towels to dry themselves off and a cup of tea each to warm them up.

"Thank you. Please forgive our outburst," The younger man said, sipping his tea. "We're worried about the child."

"I'm sure somebody found your son and they're taking very good care of him right now." Rafael assured. The man & woman looked at each other, and then back at the Diazes again.

"...Our s-oh no no, he's not our son." The man said with a chuckle. "No, we run an orphanage."

"Do you now?"

"I'm Reggie, the manager. This is Greta, she's the primary caretaker."

"So the two of of you look after all of the children by yourselves?" Angie inquired as the house phone started to ring. Rafael excused himself to answer it. "Doesn't that get hard?"

"Oh certainly." Greta jumped in. "We've had a bit of trouble finding good help lately what with all the nonsense happening. And that's on top of trying to find forever homes for the poor children."

"And you said that one of your children got out...?"

Reggie sighed, sipping his tea again. "And it's one of our hardest children to manage, too. Not because he doesn't behavior, but...well, see he has a condition-"

"Do you mean "Down Syndrome?" Rafael asked them while still on the phone. It turned out that it was Marco on the other line, explaining to his father what was going on. Both Reggie & Greta raised an eyebrow towards him.

"...Y-Yes, actually. H-How did you know that?"

"Our son is on the phone; he says he and his adorable girlfriend found that child and took him back to the orphanage. Said the door was left open so they're staying back to look after the children until whoever runs the place gets...back...w-which would be _you two_, I guess..."

"_Wait, Dad, they're with **you** guys!?"_ Marco said on the other line.

"Yes, they passed us by while they were looking for the boy!"

"_Oh shoo-okay, just tell them that Star and I are here and we're looking after them. The kids are all fine, they're clean & fed. We're not going to leave until they get back here, promise."_

"I will tell them! You're good kids, the two of you." He hung up the phone and began to relay the message to them. "The kids are okay. They're clean and fed and they're being looked after."

Both Greta & Reggie breathed a sigh of relief. "That's wonderful news!"

"You don't have to worry about _anything_. My son and his girlfriend are wonderful people, they won't anything befall those children." Angie reassured them.

"I'm sure they're _great_." Reggie said with the nerves still coming through in his tone. "But I'll feel a _lot_ better once we get back to the orphanage." He and Greta stood up and began to make their way to the front door.

"Wait!" Angie pleaded, standing up in a haste as she and Rafael raced to the door. "It's pouring out there, you'll be drenched!"

"Yes, but we must get back!" Reggie pleaded back.

"We already feel lousy enough that we left the children behind." Greta continued. "Even if they _are_ in good hands, we're still failing as their caretakers."

"Will you at least let us drive you there?" Angie pointed them in the direction of their cars parked in their driveway. "Why let yourselves get soaked in this awful weather?"

Despite both of their reservations about the situation, Reggie & Greta agreed to let Angie & Rafael drive them back to the orphanage. But given how much they trusted Star & Marco to handle things on their own, there was no immediate rush to get back there.

* * *

Some time passed. Star and Marco, fully expecting the orphanage runners to arrive back at any time, passed the time by playing with the kids. At the moment, it was a game of hide and seek. Star was the hider. The kids - and Marco - were the seekers. "Ready or not, here we come..." Marco said in a sing-song voice. Miles, the little angel with Down Syndrome, was leading the charge. "Okay, go find Star!" Marco urged them. The kids all split up, going in different directions to look for Star. They all took turns checking each corner of the bottom floor. Star, for her part, was hiding underneath the front desk, mostly out of sight.

"I don't see her anywhere..." Marco said, continuing to urge the kids to look. Star used every ounce of willpower to hold back laughter as she watched the kids adorably pitter patter around looking for her. "Man, she's really good at hiding." Unbeknown to Marco, one of the kids was actually taking it pretty hard. Miles grew more and more distressed as more time passed and he continued to fail to find her. The other kids weren't anywhere near upset, as they knew it was a game. "Oh no! I don't see her anywhere!" Marco said jokingly. "I guess we'll never find her..."

A choice of words that he would quickly regret. Miles plopped onto the ground and began whining, tears building in his eyes. "...H-Hey, don't cry, it's okay..." Marco immediately jumped into the fray to try and calm him down. But it was too late. Miles began crying. His poor, child mind thought Star was gone forever, and he was left devastated. "Miles, buddy, it's okay. I-It's just a game! Star's fine, I promise!" Was it possible that Miles was just faking it in order to lure Star out? Yes. But that was not what was happening, and it was not a thought that crossed Star or Marco's mind.

Star herself had a front row seat to Miles's crying. It utterly broke her heart and forced her out of her hiding spot. "Miles! It's okay!" She said as she arrived at his feet, picked him up. She winced once more as a pain developed in her chest, but she would not give in to it. "I'm here. See? It's just a game. It's a _game_, sweetie."

The boy slowly began to calm down, the sight of Star holding him in his arms delighting him. He began to babble, his mood considerably improved, though tears continued falling from her eyes. He reached his small arms out in an effort to hug her neck. She brought him in close & kissed his forehead before sitting down and allowing the other kids to hug her as they pleased. "You guys know this is just a game, right? We're just having fun." She didn't get any coherent responses, but their happy babbling implied they got the message. As they swarmed her with hugs & kisses, Marco could only watch in awe as his girlfriend proved herself to be a capable caretaker.

"I...think they like you." He said proudly. Now tears were swelling up in Star's eyes. Proud tears, but tears nonetheless. "...Star?"

She began to sniffle them back, trying and failing to stop herself from bursting into a pathetic puddle of tears. "Marco!" She yelled. "I wanna have **_ALL THE_**_** BABIES!**" _She shouted proudly, falling apart & giving into the crying. "_**I'LL BE A GOOD MOMMY!"**_

Marco sat down next to Star and hugged her, kissing her cheek gently. "You'll be a great mom." Some of the children gravitated towards Marco and climbed onto his body, showering him with laughter & affection as well.

"You sure? We both know it's more than just playing with kids-"

"Sweetheart," He leaned in and locked in for a full kiss with her. "You'll be great. I know it."

"At least one of us believes in me." Star soon found her face being smushed all around by Miles, who was happily playing with Star's cheeks with his tiny hands, all accompanied by an adorable laughter. "Yes, Miles, my cheeks are _very_ bubbly." She turned to Marco and whispered, "_Both sets of cheeks._" With a wink, getting a strong blush from the boy. "It's too bad there's no private room we can go to in this place..."

"Oh jeez, don't even think like that. Not in front of the kids!"

She snort-laughed. "Oh you're no fun."

There was suddenly a knock at the front door. The laughter from the kids died down as they all simultaneously turned their heads to the front door. The doorknob began to move, indicating there was a key in the keyhole on the other end. The door swung open, revealing Rafael, Angie, Reggie, & Greta standing there, Rafael holding an umbrella over the four of them. Everyone remained silent for a good moment. The children's brains were busy processing what was happening in front of them, but once it clicked in who was standing there, their eyes lit up and the cheers began. They all jumped off Star & Marco and raced to the adults, hopping up and down like they were on a sugar rush.

"Hello children!" Reggie shouted with glee, knelling down to let the kids hug him. "We've missed you so much!" The children gravitated over to Greta and began gently pulling at her long skirt.

"Oh, you two must be the ones that looked after them!" Greta said excitedly, addressing Star & Marco, before turning back to Marco's parents. "Your children are _adorable_."

Both parents couldn't help but laugh. "Only the boy is actually ours."

"_I'm_ the boy's girlfriend!" Star said proudly, raising her hand with an incredibly giddy smile on her face. "The kids were _great_. Seriously, they were no trouble! We fed them, we played games, we hugged..."

"We even cleaned up their sleeping area upstairs." Marco intervened.

"He means _he_ cleaned it. I kept the kids out of the room cuz he used a lot of that smelly cleaning stuff and we didn't want to risk the babies breathing it in. Isn't that right?" She turned to the kids, who all babbled in agreement with her, simultaneously running back to her to be held by her. "It's okay, babies. Mama Star's here and she loves you _very_ much. And so does Uncle Marco, don't y-" She turned to Marco...only to find that he was now facing away from her, awkwardly looking at a portrait. She stood up carefully - at which point the kids all gravitated back to the other adults, while they all went into the kitchen for some tea - and walked over to him. "Marco?"

She tapped his shoulder, at which point he awkwardly turned around, slightly hunched over. "D-Don't worry, I'm sure the storm'll pass soon and we can go home." He said quickly.

She suspected she knew what the deal was with him. "Yeah, that sounds great. It's too bad, though. I kind of like being Mama Star and getting to ta-" As soon as she uttered those two words, he turned back around to face away. Her suspicions were confirmed. "_I knew it!"_ She loudly whispered. Upon turning him around again, she saw that his face was beat red and sweat was dripping from his forehead. "Mama Star, huh?"

There was _nowhere_ for him to run now. "W-What do you want me to say? It's really hot."

She loved to tease him, but it was always out of love. She proved it again by passionately kissing him, luckily out of ear shot from the adults. "Tell you what: prove it to me later. _Show_ me how hot it is to you."

"My pleasure, Miss Butterfly." They kissed again before joining the adults in the kitchen.

* * *

Some more time passed; the storm was finally beginning to clear up while the adults plus Star & Marco spent the time talking with each other. The kids were in the next room, playing with toys and coloring. "So are you two really the only ones running this place? Looking after all of these kids?" Star asked them as she took a sip of her tea.

"We've had volunteers come in and out to help," Greta explained. "But lately we've been running dry." The cleaving played a significant part in their well of volunteers drying up. "It's not a matter of money - we're fine financially - but we have way too many kids for just the two of us to be responsible for their well-being. Thank goodness they're so well behaved..."

"How long have you guys been here?"

"About ten years." Reggie explained. "I bought this place from the last ownership group because they were intent on destroying it and turning it into a parking lot."

"What is with rich people and turning important things into parking lots?" Marco quipped.

"Doesn't it get exhausting doing this by yourself?" Star asked them, to which they nodded. "I mean it's gotta be, because...well," She sighed. "I don't want to sound judgmental, but it's not really a good idea to leave kids this young by themselves or leave your door wide open for _anyone_ to break into. What if Marco and I were bad guys? What if we trashed this place and hurt the kids? I-I mean we never would _dream_ of doing anything like that, but that was a big risk you too."

Neither Greta nor Reggie could really dispute the logic presented to them by Star. "No, you're right. We, uh, we're just overwhelmed I guess. It's not every day you get a surprise in the form of two kind upstanding citizens willing to look after these innocent kids."

Both Star & Marco laughed, with Marco gently nudging his girlfriend's arm. "Hey, maybe you should babysit the kids more often." Marco continued laughing, but Star stopped, with her eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree. "Wait I-I was just kidding! It's not your problem..." Whatever Marco's intentions were, they weren't coming through, evidenced by Star's sudden turn from excitement to dismay. "Do...Do you _want_ to?"

She rubbed her arm in discomfort and looked away from him. "Well today _was_ a lot of fun. I may not make a good _mom_ but I can be a great playmate for them."

Marco turned back to Reggie & Greta. "You really should've been here for that, she was _wonderful_ with them! She has a way with kids that I wish I could have with my own baby sister." While they were talking, little baby Miles used his stubby legs to walk into the kitchen behind them. In his hands was a drawing that he had done himself.

"Oh don't be so modest, Diaz. You're a total sweetheart with that beautiful little angel. Stop putting yourself down just prop _me_ u-" Star found her dress being tugged at below her. She looked down and saw Miles standing there with a smile on his face. He lifted the hand holding the drawing towards her. "What's this?" She put it on the table where they all studied it. It was a simple drawing, with little crudely drawn babies sitting next to a crudely drawn Star, who had hearts in her eyes and looked to be cheering, while a crudely drawn Marco stood next to her patting her head. The real Star's eyes began swelling with happy tears. How could a simple drawing bring such joy?

"Aww, that's so cute!" Marco remarked, getting out of his seat to pick up the boy, who broke out into hysterical laughter. "We have a little artist here, don't we?" But Miles shook his head and pointed out towards the next room, where the other babies sat patiently. "Oh, you had help, didn't you?" He leaned towards Star. "Star, did you hear that? We've got-"

In a flash, she stood up, turned around, got on her knees, and stuck her arms out, the tears rolling down her cheeks. "**_COME TO MAMA, BABIES!_**" Overwhelmed with joy, she opened herself up for the babies to pounce on her with love, which they all did, including Miles. Everyone else in the room soaked in the sight. Star was absolutely great with spreading love to innocents and children. It was her top quality. And it was on full display here. She was swarmed with love from the children.

* * *

A little more passed; Star managed to calm herself down enough to talk sensibly with Reggie & Greta. Among the discussions was the idea of an official part-time position with the orphanage as a caretaker for the kids. Even though Star wasn't privy to more of the intricate details of child care, but one thing she proved capable of was keeping them distracted. She could play with them, keep them happy, even change or feed them in a pinch if needed. On a part-time basis for someone who literally never held an Earth job before, it seemed like such a perfect fit. They needed to confer the schedule and pay, but as of now, unofficially, Star Butterfly was the newest employee at the orphanage. And she couldn't be happier.

"Thank you so much again for looking after the kids for us." Greta said again as the two teens & Marco's parents prepared to leave. "You did such a great job with them!"

"Oh please, it was no trouble." Marco insisted. "We're just...happy we could help."

"I can't wait to get started!" Star said in a giddy tone, which quickly gave way to a plethora of nerves. "I just hope I don't screw it up."

"We'll make sure you have the training you need, but..." Reggie and Greta exchanged smiles. "We're not too worried. We think you'll get the hang of it pretty fast."

"She's a bright one." Rafael said proudly, patting his future daughter-in-law's shoulders. "You'll be in great hands."

The girl smiled warmly at her father-in-law to be, sensing the endless pride radiating from his face. "Thanks Da-Mr. Diaz!" She had to stop herself again. Chalk up another issue to discuss for her next therapy appointment, but that was for then. For now, she was reveling in what was to come. She and Marco stayed behind momentarily while Angie & Rafael went to start their car. Marco gave Star a smug smile after hearing her nearly call Rafael "Dad." "Oh don't give me that look, I know you're enjoying this."

The boy chuckled. "Come on, let's head back. They can drop us off at your place and we can-"

"Actually that reminds me..." She interrupted, looking away with a blush. "I wanted to ask you...why _my_ bed? Why do you enjoy when we make love in my bed more than your own?"

"...Oh, that?" He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek. "It's...it's because _your_ bed belongs to a princess." He proudly said before joining his folks in their car, leaving Star all by herself. Her mind began to fluctuate through all sorts of emotion. First was pride; the fact that Marco would proudly still defer to her as a princess despite no longer holding such distinction - or even considering herself one - made her heart swell. He was also a sweetheart to her. Then came an influx of guilt. How could he still think so highly of her after everything they've been through? After all of the heartache she inadvertently put him through? After all of the sacrifices he had to make for her that she still hasn't repaid him for? All of the trouble she caused him and everyone else, all of the problems her mere continued presence in this world cause...

But before she could sink too deep into the pit of self-sabotage, she found herself being tugged at once more. She looked down and again saw Miles gently tugging at her dress. This time instead of a drawing, he was holding a flower in his free hand. It was a flower that looked like it was massacred in the process of delivering it, but he still stuck his hand out proudly towards her. Again, Star's heart swelled. "Aww, is that for me?" She knelled down and took it from him, soaking in his happy babbling.

"F-F-F-" He started stammering. Even though he was developmentally behind, that didn't stop him from trying. "F-Flower!" He managed to eek out before breaking out into more laughter.

Star yet again felt her heart nearly explode with joy. "I love you, you little oddball!" She shouted before wrapping her arms around him for another hug. All of this while Rafael, Angie, and Marco watched from the car.

"She's going to make an excellent mother one day." Rafael exclaimed proudly.

"That's what I told her." Marco responded, waving to his girlfriend as she waved back, still hugging Miles. "I'm glad she's found this. She needs an outlet to help people. Let's just hope it stays at just this, I don't need her exhausting herself by taking too many obligations right now..."

* * *

_**The next day...**_

"...you got a part-time job at the pet shelter too!?"

Marco stood dumbfounded staring at his girlfriend, who stood before him in his room holding some baby kittens. She had happy tears forming in her eyes, preparing to celebrate with pride.

"I LOVE THEM AND I WANT TO TAKE ALL OF THE BABY ANIMALS!" She screeched loudly while letting the happy tears fall sloppily from her eyes. His boyfriend dusted himself off and approached her, hugging her while she still held the kittens in her arms. He was _so_ proud of her, and he was ready to help her take on these new challenges of hers.

* * *

**End of Episode 10!**

**Yeah, a little bit shorter than past episodes but I hope you still enjoy it nonetheless. Can't promise updates are going to stay this quick, but given the coronavirus going around, I'll be inside a lot more for the time being. Plus I have other projects I want to do, so let's see how the wheels turn.**

**Please stay safe and exercise good judgement in these rough times. And ****as always, please read & review!**


	11. Magical Follies

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 11: Magical Follies**

**Episode Summary: Meteora & Mariposa return to Dimension X-103 in search of a valuable treasure, but along the way they make some discoveries - both internally _and_ externally - that throws everything they thought they knew into question.**

**Original Postdate: April 5, 2020**

* * *

The night Earthni sky glistened and shined all over Echo Creek. Our two lovebirds, Star & Marco, sat in the former's room, readying themselves for bed, while baby Meteora and Mariposa were fast asleep together in a crudely-made crib not far off from the bed. Star had spent the day working at both the orphanage _and_ the pet shelter, and she was now happily recounting her day to her boyfriend. "So I took all the babies to the shelter and while I was helping clean the place they got to play with all of the doggies and kitties and oh my gosh you should've been there it was _the_ most precious thing of all time!" She said with a twinkle in her voice. "It was like a festival of cuteness!"

"I'm glad you had a good day." Marco said with a chuckle. "I hope none of the dogs shed on those kids."

"Ohhhh there was a _lot_ of shedding, don't get me wrong. But Hilda and I managed to clean everything up no problem."

"Hilda?"

"Oh, she's one of the workers at the pet shelter. Super cool girl, you'd _love_ her."

"I'll take your word for it." He gently grabbed her shoulders and helped her onto the bed where they locked into a kiss. "I'm _so_ happy to see you like this. You've got a great outlet to help people without completely running yourself into the ground."

"You're _still_ so worried about that, aren't you...?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I am..."

She caressed his cheek. "I understand why, but I wish you wouldn't be."

"I'll feel better once we can actually fix your heart issue, not to mention all the other things wrong..."

"You just focus on my heart. Let _me_ deal with everything else."

"I guess you're right. Oh, that reminds me...has anyone asked about that your, uh...your-"

"My T-shirt?" She said with a smirk. "Oh I don't actually wear that when I'm supposed to work."

His eyes went wide. What a shocking revelation. "Y-You don't?"

"Nah. I figured it wasn't appropriate work attire. I always wear my jacket, though. I look pretty fly in that, if I do say so myself. Why...do you ask?"

His eyes stand wide open. Uh oh, now he had to scramble for an excuse. "N-N-No reason. J-Just making casual talk."

She was not buying it. "Uh huh, _suuuuure_." She smirked, pecking his lips gently to evoke a laugh from him. "Marco...do you want me to go sport it now for you?" At the present moment, she was in her now-regular sleepwear: black thermal shirt & black leggings with gray swirls.

"What? No!" He poorly lied. "I-I was just asking a question. It doesn't mean anything!" The deep blush on his face gave the game away, not that Star needed it to read between the lines. "Is this bad of me?"

She couldn't help but giggle at his grace. "It's not bad at all. Seriously, you _have_ to cut yourself some slack." She proceeded to get off the bed and head to her closet. "Do you have a color preference?" He hesitantly shook his head, the blush on his face growing stronger. So Star grabbed the white T-shirt - the original "Bubble Butt" shirt - and gladly put it on over her thermal shirt. Her back was facing him, which means he got a view of the "Property of Marco Diaz" text _and_ the giant arrow pointing down towards her butt. He had to restrain himself hard to not burst out into laughter right then and there, but he was enjoying himself, despite being embarrassed to admit it. "I have not thanked you nearly enough for helping make this shirt a reality."

She turned herself around to face him, now showing off the "Star Bubble Butt Butterfly" text on the front of the shirt. Once again, he had to restrain himself as she made her way back to the bed. "I'm...warming up to it." He admitted. "I...I _wish_ I had your confidence."

"Stop selling yourself short. Anyone that can call me "Bubble Butt" in front of other people like you did the other day has _mega _confidence, and don't tell me you're regretting that." He hesitated. "You shouldn't."

He sighed and smiled. "I know. I...It _did_ feel good. I love just how much you've embraced it. And it _does_ describe it perfectly, might I add."

Her smile grew wider. "Well if that name was given to me by any other guy in the world, I wouldn't have embraced it this much. You're _special_." They shared a kiss.

"Then I guess you'll want me to call you Bubble Butt in public a lot more often, huh?" He said with a sheepish smile on his face as his hands slowly made their way towards her rear end to squeeze it.

"There's my little sexy beast."

"What can I say? Your butt's really easy on my eyes."

By now you'd think her smile would fly off her face. "Oh really? Well _your_ butt's easy on _my_ eyes too."

"Is that so?" He asked her; she answered with a nod. "Well...come here then, and let me make it even easier on your eyes."

"That sounds good to me, Mr. Diaz." And you can probably fill in the blanks from here.

* * *

Several hours passed, which found both Star and Marco relaxed & fast asleep in the bed, both embracing each other closely while Star was lightly snoring into Marco's ear. It was another long, eventful, and calming escapade for the two of them that put them right to sleep. Around this time, both Mariposa and Meteora awoke from their slumber, took note of the sleeping teens, and successfully made their way out of their crib. Together, using all the intuition & thinking power a toddler's brain would allow, they made their way to Star's closet, opened it, and pulled out the dimension hopping ray gun that was stored there. Together they figured out how to activate it, blasting a ray and opening a dimensional portal several feet from them.

They teamed up to push the ray towards the portal before giving one large whack to it, sending it through the portal, and then crawling & leaping through the portal themselves. And where did this portal take them? To Dimension X-103, of course, which meant they were both back in their teenage bodies. Mariposa grabbed the ray gun off the ground and started to dig in the spot she was knelling. A piece of paper stuck out; she grabbed it and unfolded it, revealing it to be a map. "We did it." She said out loud. "We're in exactly the spot we left off from." **(A/N: Remember the two weeks Star & Marco were away from the group in "Unforgettable Getaway?" Well let's just say Meteora and Mariposa had some adventures in this dimension during that time).**

"So we're still on the right track?" Meteora asked her, peering over her shoulder to look over at the map.

"If this thing is accurate, we are. Two hundred miles due North into the Afflicted Forest. Looks like we're gonna have to cross the Neverzone, though. We should probably stock up on supplies. According to the map there's a little village five miles East from here full of shops selling exactly what we need."

"How're we doing on money?"

Mariposa flipped open the satchel bag she was carrying and pulled out a smaller bag that was filled to the brim with coins, skimming through it quickly. "Looks like we'll be good to go...I think..."

"Hey, we'll be fine. When we find that treasure, we'll be rich beyond our wildest dreams!"

"Yeah we will!" They shared a fist bump and then went on their way, heading towards the village in question - the Shop Village, as it was known - to stock up. Stock up on what? Only the most essential of items - water, dozens of bags of "just-add-water" foods, weaponry, shields for protection, heavy & warm clothing for the Neverzone, etcetera. Fortunately for them they had just enough currency to buy supplies that would last them about a full calendar year. And Mariposa's satchel bag was somehow big & deep enough to carry all of their supplies.

"Could you _fit_ any more into that bag?" Meteora quipped as they left the last shop in the village. "Looks like it's about to barf all of our supplies up."

"Don't give it any-"

_***THWACK!***_

Mariposa found herself smacked across the face and sent flying several feet before landing hard on the ground. She had been attacked by a creature. But it wasn't just any creature. It was a huge, buffed out half-spider, half-bear hybrid creature. Legs of a spider, upper half of a bear. And it was _feral._

In the thousands of years in this dimension that passed since Hekapoo's death - and second death - Dimensions X-103 has been flung into total anarchy and chaos. No leadership, no order, no nothing. The inhabitants of this world had to fend for themselves, and very quickly everything went to hell. One of the paramount side effects of Hekapoo's absence was the emergence of rabid, feral creatures that had no direction and caused mayhem whenever they felt like it...such as now. This particular creature had decided to make Mariposa and Meteora its play things. "Mary!" Meteora yelled, racing over to her partner in crime. The girl was dazed, but otherwise unharmed.

"Grab your weapons, let's give it hell!" Mariposa yelled in response. Meteora grabbed a Bo Staff from the bag, while Mariposa grabbed a sword. They swarmed in with no regard for their own personal well being. All that mattered was defeating this creature and protecting the life forms around them that weren't causing trouble.

The spider-bear hybrid creature put up an intense fight, landing blow after blow on the two teens, knocking them back several times, all while withstanding them swinging their weapons at it almost ad nauseam. It was not going to go down easy. "What is this thing's deal!?" Meteora yelled in frustration after yet another swing of her Bo Staff failed to do any damage to it. "You eve seen anything like this thing before?"

"Nope." Mariposa answered back. "We gotta lead it out of the village! Follow me!" She led Meteora towards the end of the village and out of it, with the creature following closely behind, just as Mariposa predicted it would. But they didn't get too far until the creature caught up to them and used its spider legs to pounce on the two teens, flinging them away and knocking them into a nearby broken brick wall. That did a number on them. "Why you-!" The creature lunged at them and leaped into the air, and with what can only be described as a desperation swing of her sword, she managed to slice at one of its bear arms, not cutting it off but wounding it severely enough that it was left in a great deal of pain and forcing it to retreat onto the ground away from them. "Now's our chance, MOVE!"

The two gathered themselves and dashed out of the scene, able to create enough distance from the creature that it lost its sight on them. But now the girls had this new creature to worry about on their quest to find their treasure. They took a quick survey of their surroundings. Although everything was where their map _said_ it should be, it looked...different. It was like the passage of time wore down the aesthetic of the world around them. "I don't get it...nothing looks the same..." Mariposa commented. "We haven't been gone _that_ long."

Meteora cupped her eyebrows. "Mary...time dilation. Remember?" She really _was_ best friends with Marco's sister. In the two weeks that Star & Marco were away on their getaway, the two girls found themselves overhearing a conversation between the Butterfly family & the Lucitors, during the time that the prototypes for the dimensional ray gun were being developed. One of the topics that came up was Dimension X-103, including its time dilation. That was when the truth came out, and their first adventure in this dimension was finally put into perspective. And then during those two weeks they proceeded to sneak around and use the ray gun to get back _into_ the dimension for more adventures together.

"Oh yeah, right...that's not creepy at all."

"Come on, let's just get back to looking for the treasure."

* * *

And so off they went. They continued to follow the map, heading in the direction of the Afflicted Forest. The trek was proving to be quite the lengthy on. The world was so large and vast that just to make it to the Neverzone - the part of the dimension they _had_ to cross in order to get to the Afflicted Forest - took several months out of their trek, and it ate at a significant chunk of their supply rations. As they arrived at the forefront of the Neverzone & suited up in winter clothing, they took note of their surroundings. Besides the winter storm, it was near silent. No activity whatsoever on any level. "It's so quiet..." Meteora remarked.

"Hey, that just means it'll be easier for us to navigate." Mariposa said firmly. "Once we cross the Neverzone, it'll be a cinch to get to the Afflicted Forest. Assuming we don't get ambushed again."

"We haven't seen that...whatever the heck that thing was...since the shop village, I think we'll be fin-"

Speak of the devil: Meteora was slammed in the back and thrown into the ground by none other than the Spider-Bear hybrid creature that had previously attacked them in the shop village. But it wasn't alone this time. There were five other, smaller Spider-Bear hybrids standing beside it, and they all looked angry. "So much for that." Mariposa said in a visibly annoyed tone.

One of the hybrids loudly roared. "..._Revenge..._" It managed to sputter out, taking Meteora & Mariposa off guard.

"I-It can talk!?" Meteora shouted as she slowly stood up, hurting from the one-hit beating she just took.

"_We...Want...**REVENGE**_." It said again.

"Revenge...but why?" Mariposa asked. "_We've_ never met before until that time you attacked us a few months ago at the village. _We_ didn't do _anything_ to you except defend ourselves!"

"_You...__killed...our guardian!"_ Guardian? What was this now?

"We haven't been here in I don't even know how long! I'm not smart enough to calculate the time dilation between our world and this world!"

Meteora groaned. "I told you, Mary, it's one Earth minute equals two years in this dimension."

Mariposa leered annoyingly at Meteora. She was not impressed, and she was not in the mood for this. "Thanks, sweetie. That was _very_ helpful."

"**_You_**..." The boss hybrid sneered. "_**KILLED OUR GUARDIAN**_!"

"Who's this now!? Guardian? What's it talking about?" Meteora piped up.

"Who did you say ran this dimension while magic was still a thing? Someone named...Hiccup-Hekla-"

"_Hekapoo_." Meteora sneered. Just the mere memory of that name sent chills down her spine. "Yeah, _that_ thing..."

Mariposa shrugged nervously. "Okay then..." And she turned back to the hybrid beasts. "So you're here to avenge her or something?" The leader hybrid roared like it had never roared before. "You punks are barking up the wrong tree! We're not the ones that killed her."

"Rest assured, we know." One of the underling hybrids said in a sinister manner. "We know those who are responsible for the destruction of our world leader! Her with the magic wand, and he with the impressive abs & mole!"

Meteora's teeth began to grind. She knew who they were referring to, and her ire was directly meant for the boy with the abs.

"No, fools. They didn't kill her. She killed _herself_." Mariposa barked back, surprising them & confusing Meteora. "Her hubris, her arrogance, her bigotry, her old world views, her _refusal_ to change or adapt..._that's_ what got her killed. You don't have to like it, but that's the truth! And my brother detested that about her!"

"If that's true, why did he spend so much time in this world with her?" Mainly that was due to him trying to earn a pair of dimensional scissors from her after he blatantly abused Star's pair, but Mariposa wasn't privy to that, so she couldn't answer. "Why was he always riding around with her on their Dragon cycle? Why did he always ask for him to tag along? Hmm?"

And before she could actually think of an answer to give, Meteora took charge & went after all of them in a rage. With her Bo Staff in hand, she ferociously attacked the group, landing in blow after blow on them and dodging every one of their attacks. While her attacks weren't doing damage persay, they were forcing the creatures to retreat in an effort to avoid even more sustained blows. They weren't hurt, but they were most certainly spooked. Eventually Meteora leaped onto one of the underlings and climbed onto its back, crawling up its neck. She laced her hands onto its jaw line, twisting as hard as she physically could & snapping its neck, killing it on the spot.

The unbridled rage Meteora showed in that instance disturbed all on the scene, from the hybrid creatures to Mariposa herself. "Hey Mary, you just gonna stand there or are you gonna give me a hand with these fools!?" Despite her reservations, Mariposa joined in with her sword, flailing away at the creatures and forcing them to retreat further. Mariposa was intent on letting them walk away with their bodies bruised but preserved. Meteora, however, had a different idea. Unapologetically, and without regard for Mariposa's wants, she took it upon herself to single-handedly kill each of the underlings, and she did it in the exact same way she killed the first one: by snapping its neck. After that, all that was left was the leader creature.

Unfortunately, the leader creature was now pretty angry, angry enough to shake Meteora off of him no problem and then beating the hell out of the two of them as payback. Using some more supplies from their satchel bag - notably a smoke bomb, which Mariposa happily thanked Star for the idea - they distracted the beast long enough to flee and escape, getting out of its line of vision & taking cover. Not too far away there was a pre-built igloo - and a particularly large one at that - where they took refuge. It was big enough to give them some comfort as they ducked out & waited for the coast to clear before they moved on. This also meant they had a little bit of time to go over Meteora's, erm, perplexing behavior.

"What was _that_!?" Mariposa said quietly, blasting Meteora's actions.

"What was what?" Meteora's attempts to play ignorance were not going to work.

"Since when do you go gangbusters on adversaries like that?"

"What's the problem? They were asking for it!"

"You were perfectly fine with playing cat n' mouse with that thing until they started bringing up Hekapoo and such. I mean I guess I get _why_ they're pissed off, if Hekapoo really _was_ the one that led this entire dimension."

"Well, maybe if your _brother_ hadn't been so buddy-buddy & cozy with that _**wretched**_ excuse for a woman for so long..." She started grinding her teeth, all in an effort to hold back the anger. But it subsided upon seeing her best friend standing there, arms crossed & disappointingly shaking her head.

"Uh-uh, nope, you are _not_ playing that card on me today." Mariposa said sternly.

"W-What card?!"

"The "I'm-going-to-blame-Marco-for-all-of-my-problems-because-he's-an-easy-target" card. It's your go-to play. It's not even a surprise anymore."

"Oh I'm sorry, did you fall asleep while those fools were going on and on about how those two were pretty much a couple without actually _being_ a couple!?"

"Okay first, _eww_. Second, so _what_ if they were?"

"So what? Are you for real?" Meteora's anger was beginning to boil over. "Okay, I'll tell you "so what." Hekapoo was a bigoted, corrupt **_TRAITOR_****!"** She quickly covered her mouth, hoping to not attract the Spider-Bear hybrid. "Her and her band of magical-wielding racists! I could stand here and tell you all about the **_three hundred__ years _**of hell that I was put through but that wouldn't ever do any of it justice! My mother fell in love with a monster and they ran off together and because of that they sent me into a neverending nightmare! I was stripped of my identity, my free will, my _freedom_! I was brainwashed into creating a cult of brainwashed, obedient, soulless husks of princesses!

"Every time I stepped even a _hair_ out of line, I was punished & abused! They literally beat the optimism & hope out of me! My family was denied the throne of Mewni because their racist butts couldn't stomach the idea that my mother was genuinely in love with a monster who actually treated her with respect & dignity rather than an obnoxious, sniveling royal _mouthpiece_ that didn't care one iota for her or for **_me_**! We were pawns in their sick little game!"

Mariposa stayed quiet for as long as Meteora ranted. She didn't think much of her attitude towards the creatures or towards her brother until just now. She literally didn't comprehend the idea that Meteora might still have memories of her trauma. But just like Star still had to remember all of her painful memories, Meteora had to recall her abuse & neglect. "Whether you believe me or not, I _do_ get it. I hear you loud and clear. So be angry at **_THEM_**! Not my brother!"

"...well-"

"So my brother started an uprising of rebellious princesses while you were the head mistresses of Saint Whatever! You said it yourself. _You_ were a pawn in their game; that school existing and you running it was a piece of their game board. Marco didn't ruin anything for you more than those sniveling pricks did! Oh, he embarrassed you? It couldn't have been any worse than what those magic people actually did to you!"

"Y-Yeah, b-"

"You know what? I think the only reason you still resent my brother is because he's actually _alive_ for you to direct your rage towards. If those three Magic High Commission dummies were still around, you'll be seething more at them than at Marco! Am I right or am I right?"

She was absolutely right. "You know what? Yeah, you're right!" Meteora pouted & crossed her arms. "_Why did Star have to be the one to kill them?"_

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Mariposa asked, having heard her under her breath.

"I said why did Star have to be the one to kill them!? It should've been me! I've got three centuries worth of revenge I could've gotten on them, but _nooooooo_, I had to be stuck as a baby watching helplessly while the former **_Princess_** of Mewni-"

"The Princess that busted her tail day in and day out to mend centuries of racial prejudices and bigotry that were dragging down your world! The Princess that sacrificed her personal life, _her_ wants and needs, all for the good of your world! The Princess that gave up the throne _her_ family had been wrongfully given _just_ to try and fix what those three goons took from you and your mother!" Mariposa was much more aware that Meteora had given her credit for. She paid attention. She was in the know of what had happened. And she was not about to take any slander for either her brother _or_ her brother's girlfriend. "Don't you dare throw Star under the bus just because _you_ want to be pissy. That girl did more for you and your family than she had any business doing! And my brother may not always be the smartest or most self-aware person in the room, but dammit, he tried! And he's _still_ trying!"

As much as Meteora wanted to argue with her friend, she couldn't. "Wow...Mary, I-I had no idea how much you knew."

"Star's not the only one who's been underestimated. And you know what? The only reason you want to take out all your fury on my brother is because those three traitors aren't around to take your wrath! If those three were still around, you'd have a more justifiable target for your anger. Instead you use my brother as the punching bag."

Meteora buried her head in her hands. "You're right. On everything. Argh! I'm so sick of being this _angry_!"

"You have every **_right_** to be angry, you're just angry at the wrong person!"

"Well I can't help that, can I? He's still around. They're not." In frustration, she turned her back to Mariposa and kept her gaze away. Thinking on her feet, Mariposa decided to cheer her best friend up...with a snowball fight. She formed a snowball from the snow on the ground below them and threw it at her friend. It got her attention, as she, after giving it some quiet thought and noticing Mariposa snickering, formed her own snowball and threw it back. A lighthearted, laughter-filled snowball fight ensued. Meteora quickly got the upper hand, forcing Mariposa into a corner. In said corner, she picked up a large chunk of snow and prepared to throw it.

And then something happened. As quickly as it was formed, the giant snowball in her hand began to melt, immediately catching both girls off guard. Underneath the melted snow was what appeared to be a small crystal. It began glowing a green color. Before any more time passed, the crystal began to shape shift, slowly transforming into something. It slowly morphed into a white stick, thickening before morphing again, spreading purple butterfly-like wings at the top of the stick _and_ a white angel halo sitting directly above the top. A moment of uncomfortable silence passed before finally something new happened. The two girls began screaming. They were left speechless.

"I THOUGHT MAGIC WAS DEAD!" Mariposa shouted.

"SO DID I, WHAT THE HECK?!"

The introduction of what looked like a new magic wand sent them both into a confused panic, one that saw them scream loud enough to draw the attention of the Spider-Bear hybrid that had been hunting them. It crashed into the igloo, damaging it further. Mariposa & Meteora took their battle positions, with the former holding both her sword _and_ the newly formed wand. "Not you again." Mariposa uttered through gritted teeth. The creature lunged at Mariposa; on instinct alone, she held up the wand, and without her doing anything it formed a purple-colored shield in front of her; the creature's spider kicks could not penetrate it, allowing for Meteora to tackle it. She climbed up to the creature's head and - with all of her might - attempted to snap its neck. She was only partially successful, however. The snap didn't kill the beast entirely, but it did knock the wind out of it and leave it in the snow unconscious, allowing them to escape.

The two teens dashed out of the igloo with their supplies and ran, and they kept running. They didn't look back once, not even when they had to stop to rest. Not until they were completely out of the Neverzone, which took several weeks and, due to the added stress of escaping the Neverzone _and_ fighting the beast, ate at their supply rations. By the time they finally escaped the Neverzone entirely, they had approximately a week's worth of rations left. They had to hustle now to get to the location they needed to get to. Treasure was on the line...as was their lives.

"I think we finally lost it..." Mariposa said in between heaving. She and Meteora collapsed onto the ground, completely exhausted.

"This treasure _better_ be worth all of this nonsense!" Meteora yelled in frustration. She looked over at her friend and noticed she had gently tossed the wand aside, not wanting anything to do with it, probably out of respect for her. "You know, you should _probably_ keep that with you." She said quietly. "Not really sure we can trust _anyone_ here."

Mariposa turned her attention to said wand. Reluctantly, she took it back and kept it on her person. "I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with magic ever again."

Meteora scoffed. "I _don't_, but I trust that wand in your hands. Can't really say that about anyone else except Star, and...well, Star's not here, is she?"

A brief moment of silence passed. A rare, genuine compliment from Meteora. "...You trust me?"

"Yeah, of course I do. I...I hope I've never made you feel like I don't."

"No, never!" Mariposa sighed. She turned her attention back to the wand in her hand, studying it intently. How did a tiny green crystal morph into the very thing she was holding? Did she even want to know? "Hey...hand me your Bo Staff."

"My B-oh no, NO, _**NO!**_ Do _NOT_ do that!"

"Oh _now_ you want to keep this thing around?"

"You don't know what could possibly happen if you do that?"

"Didn't Star have to destroy the wand that one time to stop Marco from getting squished or something?"

"Yeah, and she used a spell that's _specifically_ designed to destroy magic. She didn't take a blunt object and beat the living hell out of it!"

"...Point taken. So what do we do then?"

Before Meteora could respond again, they overheard an echo of loud growling in the distance. It was the Spider-Bear hybrid creature again, gearing up to chase after them again. "Let's go find that treasure! Then we can figure out what the heck to do with the wand."

* * *

They took off again. In a span of just six days, through sheer hustle and willpower, they managed to make it to the Afflicted Forest, the site where the treasure was supposedly located. "Spread out! Look for anything that doesn't look like it blends."

The two split up and took different paths around the forest in search of the treasure. They had so much ground to cover and so few rations left for them. They also had the Spider-Bear hybrid creature still on their tail. They had to move fast and think even faster. There was very little margin for error and even less time to waste.

"I FOUND SOMETHING!" Yelled Mariposa deep into the forest. Meteora followed the sound of her friend's yelling voice until she met up with her by one of the biggest trees with the thickest trunk in the forest. Mariposa knocked on the tree bark, revealing a secret compartment in the tree. She took off the loose wood, revealing a hole large enough for them to fit through.

"Is this...a secret passage?"

"Only one way to find out..." Mariposa grabbed her friend's hand, and together, the two of them leaped through the hole, falling into what felt like a bottomless pit. For the longest time there was nothing but pitch black nothing. That is until finally, a light began shining down ahead. There was finally a floor on the horizon...which also meant that if they were to hit it, they were good and dead. "Quick, hit the walls with your hands and feet! The friction'll slow our descent!" And that's exactly what it did. They were able to slow down _just_ enough to avoid a catastrophic incident once they reached the bottom. Those their hands _and_ feet were ripe with rope burn afterwards. "Okay...if the map is right, we _should_ be closing in on the treasure." Mariposa said as she and her friend gingerly crept down the hall they landed in.

"We better be. We're about out of ratios, if we don't find it _now_, we'll have to abandon the mission & go back home." Meteora reminded her, showing off the dimensional ray gun that they had kept with them the entire time.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"It wasn't for _you_, it was for the readers."

"...the wha-okay, you _need _to stop watching so much TV with your parents." They reached the end of the hallway. Again, there appeared to be a secret compartment in the wall. They took out the wall blocked it to reveal a small space holding a tiny silver box. Mariposa took the silver box out and opened it. There was nothing solid inside, but there _was_ an outline on the bottom, and the outline exactly resembled the shape of the wand Star had before she eventually surrendered it and the throne to Eclipsa. There was also a piece of paper underneath the rubble. Meteora picked up the paper and read it aloud.

"_A temporary setback, our plans foiled. The young butterfly princess leaves our reputations soiled. Now we await our time, and everyone shall believe. That magic forever reigns supreme, our world again will cleave."_ Meteora scratched her head, fully lost. "What is this, some kind of riddle?"

"Let me see that." Mariposa took the paper from Meteora and studied it carefully, alternating between the paper, the box, and the wand currently in her hand. Slowly the gears in her mind were starting to turn. Something was clicking in for her. "Oh no..."

"What?"

"This...this isn't a riddle. It's a _contingency plan_!"

"A contingency plan?"

"Yeah...to undo what_ever_ happened to make your world and my world combine into one. To undo magic being destroyed, I think..."

"But wait, doesn't that wand you're holding prove magic _wasn't_ destroyed? Even the second time?"

"What makes you think _I_ would have the answer to that question?!"

But before another retort could be made, loud growling could be heard in the distance. The Spider-Bear hybrid creature had found them and was on its way down to crush them once and for all. A booming thud could be heard in the distance, indicating that it had landed on the floor, and it was only a matter of time before it started to make its way down the hall towards them. "Does this thing _**ever**_ give up!?" Meteora yelled as she and Mariposa stood their ground, watching the creature slowly approach them.

"I have you now..." It roared, getting itself into a fighting stance. Before it lunged at them, however, it took note of the wand, the open compartment in the wall, _and_ the empty box & note they were all holding. It geared itself up to speak again before it was cut off.

"Whatever you're thinking..._don't_." Mariposa warned.

"_**The prophecy must be FULFILLED!**__"_

"To hell with that! It's time for us to end this!"

And so the fight began. This time neither Mariposa nor Meteora held back. Mariposa used her sword and the wand to fend off the creature & deal some damage while Meteora climbed onto it and started to beat the living hell out of it. It was a truly intense fight, complete with damage to the surrounding walls & floor. There was no holding back. This time it truly felt like the creature was giving everything it had, without regard for anything else, even its own personal safety. At one point it grabbed Mariposa by the arm with its own bear arm, and it flung her into the wall, repeating the process several times. The end result: a dislocated arm for the girl. Just the mere sight of her best friend struggling was enough to rile up Meteora, fueling her into relentless attacks on the creature. She wailed on it non-stop, allowing Mariposa enough time to regain her composure and jump back in.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, Mariposa was able to pin it down long enough to allow Meteora to do what she did best: snap its neck. It was enough to finally finish it off...but nothing before it spoke one last time.

"_**Fools**__..._" It roared as the life slowly drained out of him. "_**...You will never stop the unstoppable. The prophecy shall be fulfilled. Enjoy your world while it lasts, for soon, our magic and our leaders will RETURN!**__"_ It managed to bellow out very hoarsely before it finally stopped breathing & died, the pain of the snapped neck too unbearable to withstand. The two teens remained quiet for the longest time, staring at its lifeless body as the last of its blood guzzled onto the floor.

"You know...for a creature that spent most of its time probably alone, it speaks very fluent English." Mariposa remarked after an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"We should get back to looking for that treasure." Meteora said before being stopped by her friend.

"I think...I think this _was_ the treasure."

"Come again?"

"Yeah, I think..." She held up the wand. "_This_...the thing that I found t-that morphed into this wand...I think _that_ was the treasure we were looking for."

"But how could that be? I-It wasn't even in the place the map said it was supposed to be."

"Yeah I know that, but between this, that riddle thing, a-and that creature thing talking about the prophecy and magic coming back, what else could it be!?"

"Ugh!" Meteora cupped her eyebrows. "This is so _stupid_."

Mariposa went over to console her, patting her shoulder before bringing her into a hug. "I know. But you know we're gonna have to do some investigating, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know...but it'll have to be another time. We're out of ratios, and frankly I've had just about enough of this treasure hunting stuff for a while."

"I hear that." She looked down at her wand once more. "What do you think we should do with this? I am _not_ taking this thing back to our world, but we can't just-"

Meteora went right to rummaging through the satchel bag once more, pulling out what appeared to be a door. It was in fact a 4-inch thick titanium-laced door with a built in three-step security system. Going in reverse, Step 3 was a password. A convoluted password was required, and so by Mariposa's choice, they went with... "...Turd Ferguson? _That's_ your password?"

"What? It's a funny name."

Step 2 was an eye scan, and it beautiful scanned both Mariposa _and_ Meteora's retinas. Step 1 - the first step - was...a foot scan, in lieu of a traditional hand scan. "...Feet? But why?"

"Because every detective show ever uses hand scans. It's boring."

"You're _definitely_ your brother's sister."

Once it was set up, they put the box, the note, and the newly-minted wand into the open compartment and then installed the security door in front of it, locking everything in place, all but ensuring that only they would ever be able to access the wand again. They marked it on their map, then readied themselves to go back home. "You doin' alright?"

Meteora shook her head. "I thought magic was gone forever this time. I thought we were _past_ this, I thought _I_ was past this. And then something just _had_ to come along to reawaken all of those memories..."

Mariposa took pity on her friend, choosing to embrace her & console instead of prod any further. "I don't think I'll ever be able to understand what you went through. But I'm here for you. Nobody is going to hurt you on _my_ watch."

Meteora returned the hug. "Thanks."

"And for all we know, this could just be a little bit of leftovers from when everything was destroyed. It doesn't mean magic is back completely or there's any plans for it to come back. It could just be a fluke."

"You're right, but...we should keep an eye on this just in case."

"Agreed." So Mariposa took the dimensional ray gun and prepared to aim it, readying themselves to go back. "And _nobody_ finds out about this. Not even Star. Unless it's an absolute, last-resort emergency and we have _zero_ options left."

Her friend nodded. "Agreed." And without one more word, Meriposa blasted a portal into the air, and the two of them stepped through it, returning back to their home dimension, where not even 30 seconds had passed.

* * *

The next morning, Marco slowly opened his eyes & stretched himself out. Upon his vision clearly slightly, he discovered that baby Meteora was lying there next to him, bright eyed & bushy-tailed, with a huge grin on her face. Upon Marco waking up, Meteora began giggling. "What the..." The boy sat up, which prompted Meteora to crawl even closer to him and snuggle up against his thankfully clothed torso. "Uhhhh _hi_...Meteora...Star you gotta see-" He turned to face his girlfriend only to find that she too was having a baby - in this case his sister - snuggling against her.

"How did these two even get up on the bed?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Do you really care?"

"Not really."

"Then neither do I." He turned his attention back to Meteora, completely perplexed at what he was seeing. For such a long time, baby Meteora was a thorn in his side, mostly due to the resentment she hid in a deep, dark, tiny part of her brain, the part that remembered the hells she had gone through over the previous 300 years. But today? You'd never be able to tell. It was like the baby had an epiphany...which she did, sort of, in Hekapoo's dimension. "Wow...Meteora's actually being nice to me." And just as quickly as his mood brightened, it soured into suspicion. "...what did you do?" He inquired to the baby, who curiously moaned.

"Marco, chillax, she didn't _do_ anything, she's just in a good mood. Enjoy it, you don't know how long it'll last."

"...I guess..." In a show of affection to Marco, Meteora opened her mouth wide and put it over Marco's hand. She didn't bite him, she just drooled all over his hand. "Ewww..."

"Meteora!" Star got the baby's attention. "Marco's hand isn't _food_!" Star said jokingly to her. The baby didn't move; she only continued drooling on his hand, which got all of them to burst out into laughter. They weren't even out of bed yet and already the day was off to a great start. Of course, that's because Star & Marco were completely unaware of the babies' activities _or_ the revelations they had discovered the night before in Hekapoo's Dimension. And if those two had their way, that's exactly how it would stay. The last thing either of them - especially Star - needed at the moment was more aggravation, though whether or not they'd succeed in actually keeping the aggravation away was, sadly, out of their hands...

* * *

**End of Episode 11!**

**So for the record I don't actually know if I'm gonna do the "bring back magic" thing yet again just yet. The great thing about this series being mostly episodic is that I can go episode-by-episode to figure out what directions I want this to go in. But now the seed is at least planted. In the wattpad version of this story there will be accompanying artwork to showcase what I think the Butterfly Wand would look like in Mariposa's possession. I'm very proud of that artwork too LOL.**

**In any case, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's stuck around with this story and all of my post-cleaved series so far. It means a lot to me and I appreciate the attention. And as always, reviews & comments are greatly appreciated! **


	12. Intrusive Intervention

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 12: Intrusive Intervention**

**Episode Summary: Star, despite her erratic physical & mental health, shows an interest in returning to politics. Even though it's a simple meeting with Echo Creek officials about the upcoming Monster/Mewman/Human hybrid playground build, M****arco faces a difficult moral quandary that he and she must resolve.**

**Original Release Date: April 9, 2020**

* * *

Star & Marco sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office, impatiently waiting for her name to be called. It was time for a regular check-up for Star. Ever since her first therapy session with Cassandra Cher, one which resulted in a full round of tests at the doctor's office where it was revealed her heart was weak in _addition_ to everything else that was wrong with her, regular check ups such as this one were mandated in conjunction with her therapy sessions. Nobody had yet to definitively diagnose what exactly was wrong with her heart, whether it be a magical ailment or a scientific ailment. That, combined with her erratic mental _and_ emotional health, and Star was a recipe for disaster, but one that she was constantly working to fix.

The boy was hard at work rubbing Star's shoulders, anxiously waiting for her name to be called. The girl was flattered, even if internally she struggled to fully accept it. "You're such a gentleman, Marco." She said softly.

"Oh please, I'm just doing what any sensible boyfriend should do." He brushed off her praise like it wasn't a big deal, even though inside it was. And it bothered her like mad that he was so quick to brush off praise from her like that. Why were they the way they were? It was a question neither could answer still.

"Star Butterfly?" And it was one they'd have to hold off on for the time being as Star's name was _finally_ called by a nurse and they were led into a room. "And how are we doing today?"

"Um...fine, I-I guess?" Star answered hesitantly. "I'm...not sure...?"

"Are you experiencing physical discomfort of any kind?"

She winced and held her hand up to her heart. "Not really...except for my chest..."

"Has it prevented you from doing any physical activity?"

"Um...I want to say 'no.' It's not constantly debilitating me all day or anything like that, but then I'll have these moments where it, like, just gives me _so_ much trouble and it hurts like crazy."

The nurse jotted down the notes Star gave. "I see. Alright, well I'll pass these along and the doctor will be in shortly with you." With that she left the room, leaving the two teens all by themselves. Star clutched her chest again, one again having one of those moments she'd just described to the nurse.

"Easy, easy, I'm here..." Marco said, hugging her.

"I _hate_ this _soooo_ much." She emphasized. "I hope they can give us an answer soon. If this _is_ a magical ailment and not a medical one, then I'm totally screwed!"

"Don't despair, it's gonna work out. You're in the best place for us to figure out what's going on."

She sighed begrudgingly. "I know..."

The doctor finally came into the room. "Miss Butterfly, it's good to see you again." He said calmly, noting her pain-stricken posture. "We're going to give you a full fledged physical to see exactly where you stand. We're hopeful that these tests will tell us exactly what's wrong so that we can finally put a plan in place to fix it."

"_Nothing_ would make me happier." She answered. "Whatever you need to do, _do_ it."

* * *

The doctor ran various tests on Star. These tests measured various parts of her person, such as her breath control, her physical stamina, her brain function, blood pressure, bone density...pretty much _anything_ you could think of, they tested her for. It was tedious, it was long, it was uncomfortable, and it was _exactly_ the kind of thorough examination that she needed to figure out _what_ was wrong with her. It was either medical science or magic that could solve this, and as far as Star knew, magic was dead.

After all of the tests concluded, Star & Marco were sent back to the waiting room to wait for the results. During this down time, Marco pulled a Marco, taking off Star's boots and proceeding to give her a foot rub, one that she didn't ask for. "Marco you don't have to do that..." She said, secretly grateful for the gesture but uncomfortable that he again felt that this was something he had to do.

"Hey, it's no problem." Was all he said before winking at her with a smile and resuming the foot rub. The internal struggle to simply go with the flow was ramping up again, and it would not be helped by what happened next. Behind the chair Star was sitting in, the person sitting there - a Mewman who prior to the cleaving was part of the group that distrusted Eclipsa - turned to face her.

"I see you've still got your precious "squire" doing the dirty work for you." She said to Star followed by a snicker. Star initially gave off a confused frown.

"Squire? Marco's not my squire...not anymore." She clarified. Star making Marco her "squire" when he returned to Mewni to visit her the previous year still weighed on her mind heavily. For one, it was after she had confessed her crush to him before departing to deal with Toffee, and she never bothered to bring it up again; _Marco_ was the one to do so in the magical booth that saw them have their first kiss (reluctantly). Then he spent the next year essentially remaining emotionally distant from her all so he could honor his duties as her squire. And then Star became super busy working as shadow queen for Eclipsa & tried to push him away further. "He's...my _boyfriend_ now."

"Oh really?" For whatever reason, the Mewman wasn't buying it. "Does he know that?"

"Why do _you_ care, anyway?"

"Don't play dumb. We know the story. You know, you and that demon guy and that Earth turd and you trying to be a good "princess" and stuff..."

"I don't owe you an explanation."

The Mewman snorted, which was apparently the thing that tipped Marco off, as he arose from his position and angrily leered at the Mewman.

"Hey!" He said in as loud a whisper as the room he was in would allow. "She said she doesn't owe you anything, so do yourself a favor and _back off_."

The Mewman, however, chose to double down. "Oh ho ho, look at this, the _squire_ has a backbone. _And_ an attitude. What an annoyance."

"Hey, I might be annoying, but at least I'm not _you._"

A subpar comeback, but apparently it was enough to get under the Mewman's skill. Luckily for them, before she could respond again, Star was called back in with her test results all ready for discussion.

* * *

"Miss Butterfly...I'm going to be level with you." The doctor said, slowly flipping through the pages in the folder he had in his hands. "Your results...confuse me."

"What do you mean?"

"We've run extensive tests on you today. In nearly every area you've shown considerable improvement in your health. Your blood pressure is lower, your sleep patterns are slightly better, your reflexes are improved, your weight is closer to an acceptable level-"

"My weight?" Star batted an eye and looked over at her boyfriend. "...what was wrong with my weight before?"

"You were...underweight." He looked away nervously.

"Which means...?"

"You weighed less than someone your age and height _should_ weigh."

"Oh my gosh!" She screeched in horror, burying her head in her hands. "I-I know I wasn't eating as much as I should've when I was the shadow queen, and I know I worked way too hard but-"

"B-But you were only _slightly_ underweight!" He argued, consoling her with a hug. "You're better off now." Marco turned to the doctor. "She's been eating better lately. Well...she's been eating _more,_ at least."

"Yes, your weight is in a better place now. You _are_ still rather on the low end of the "healthy weight" scale, but it's much less of an immediate concern."

"So does that mean I'm on the road to recovery, doc?"

"Well..." He sighed. "It's tricky. Almost every single aspect of physical health that we've tested for has shown improvement of some kind. There's only one piece that hasn't..."

"You mean..."

"Yes, your heart. What _I_ don't understand is how your cardiovascular system can be showing signs of improvement..._except_ for your heart. If anything, your heart's actually _weaker_ than it was the last time we checked you out." Every doctor that Star has seen up to this point and was going to see going forward was in conjunction with her therapist, Cassandra Cher, which meant each of them knew of the possibility that Star's heart issue was not a medical ailment, but a magical ailment. Unfortunately, they were still no closer to finding out what was wrong, and all they could do at the moment was ensure her comfort and ensure that she was working through her emotional & psychological issues, which she was.

"So what do we do?"

The doctor shrugged; the worst answer a doctor could give was no answer. "From all indications, you're already doing everything you're supposed to be doing, so I can't exactly recommend you change things up." He sighed again, almost conceding defeat. "I'm going to send these results over to Miss Cher, and we'll go from there."

Both Marco & Star sighed, conceding defeat themselves. If nothing else, they could take away that they weren't doing anything wrong, and that Star's heart not showing improvement was no fault of their own.

* * *

They soon returned to the Butterfly castle. They found Moon, River, Eclipsa, and Globgor in one of the study rooms of all places organizing papers and such, and all of them were in surprisingly good moods. "Hello dears!" Eclipsa called out to them as they passed by the open door. The two kids waved back nervously. "How did the appointment go?"

"O-Oh, it went great! Awesome, even!" Star lied, nervously rubbing her arm in discomfort. Marco silently shook his head, conveying to them that she was indeed lying.

"H-Hey, why don't you go chill for a bit? I'll meet you upstairs." Marco leaned in to kiss her.

"You sure?" He nodded in response. "Alrighty, but don't take too long. I'll make sure to have a special _gift_ waiting for you." She kissed him back and left him with the family. Once they were sure she was out of earshot, they addressed the elephant in the room.

"So she's still in bad shape, is she?" Eclipsa asked the boy.

"...They said she was doing better in every way _except_ her heart. That's literally the only thing that's not improving."

"Then it _has_ to be a magical ailment. It doesn't make any sense otherwise."

"Then how do we solve it when magic's gone for good?" Globgor asked, the worry on his face palpable.

"We'll just have to find a way, there's nothing more to it." Moon said firmly, determined in her convictions to help heal her daughter both emotionally _and_ physically.

"So what're you guys up to today?"

"Oh we're just tidying up in here. We have an important meeting later today."

"A meeting? With who?"

"Your esteemed "elected officials," my boy." River interjected. "The ones you and your people in this world voted into office with what you call a "democracy," yes?"

"Um...yes, I'm aware of how a democracy works, Mr. Butterfly. _Unfortunately..._"

"You know that playground building meet is coming later this summer, correct?" Eclipsa asked; the boy nodded. "So we're having your town's leaders meet with us to discuss all of the boring, uninteresting details that go along with it. You know, the layout of the park, the attractions, etcetera."

"I hardly call those details "boring" or "uninteresting," Moon scowled.

"Yes, _you_ wouldn't, Moon."

"Sounds like it's going to take a lot of coordination." Marco said in an attempt to break the ice. "Gotta have all your ducks in a row if we want to pull off something of this magnitude."

"That's absolutely correct. There are a lot of viewpoints to consider, after all."

"There's _your_ people," Eclipsa continued. "Our former Mewman residents, and of course the monster inhabitants as well, and I would imagine that all of them will have some form of dissenting opinions. There aren't that many of us that can efficiently facilitate and accommodate the needs of all three of those groups."

"I'd argue there's only _one_ person that can do all three groups justice, and that's-" And that was when it hit him: the possibility that Star would have to be involved in this meeting...and it didn't sit well with him at all. What none of them knew was that outside, Star had in fact returned back down from her room, and she was now overhearing the entire conversation. "_Star_." Marco sighed, fearing what was coming. "Oh no..." He took a deep breath. An even-keeled approach was critical here. "You...You guys want - _need_ \- Star for this, don't you?"

All of them remained silent for a moment, exchanging looks with each other as if they were telepathically preparing an answer. Outside, Star could feel her heart and mind start to race. Finally, Moon sighed and geared herself to speak. "We...We believe it would be extremely beneficial for everyone involved if Star were to take part in the meeting. Given that she spent so much time and exerted so much energy trying to amend centuries of broken bridges & prejudice between our people and monster kind, she would be the best person to give insight into how we could properly integrate a play area that includes both groups."

"Nobody fought harder for monsters' rights than Star, and our kind are forever indebted to her for her service." Globgor said proudly, which drew a tear from Star outside.

"Not to mention her time spent on Earth in your world allows her special insight into your people, the people we now must call our neighbors and townmates." River added. "She truly would be the perfect candidate to give us the best analysis."

Their argument did make a lot of sense. "I guess you're right...but-"

"We would _love_ for Star to be a part of this; she has invaluable knowledge she can bring to the table." Eclipsa said calmly. "But we will not force her to partake. She...she has enough to deal with."

"Well that settles that, then, doesn't it?" Marco said with a little bit of a quiver in her voice. "I'll make sure she's as far away from the castle as possible when it starts."

"So she doesn't want to be a part of this?" Moon raised an eyebrow. How curious of Marco to just jump to that conclusion when he hadn't even consulted Star about it yet.

"No. W-Well, I-I mean I don't..."

"I'd have thought you would want to ask her first before you made any concrete decisions." Eclipsa interjected.

Marco began to sweat nervously. She was right, and it bothered him that she was right. "H-How do you guys know for sure she wants anything to do with this?"

"How do _you_ know she doesn't?" Globgor barged in. Another solid point.

"...Alright, point taken, I guess." Marco sighed, clearly annoyed at what was unfolding before him. It didn't take long for the others to catch on; one could cut the tension emanating from the boy with a knife. He crossed his arms in disappointment.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Eclipsa asked, leaving her loose papers behind and approaching him to console him. He looked up at her smiling at him & breathed a sigh of relief, struggling to not begin crying right then and there.

"I promised Star a lengthy & spoiled home vacation. I promised her that I would _never_ let her get hurt again, in any way, shape, or form. A-And I know that it's not feasible to keep her off her feet or away from all of this forever. But she deserves someone in her corner to have her back no matter what. And I feel like _I_ should be that person." Outside, Star began to grow emotional herself. No matter what she felt about the whole "home vacation" arrangement she was currently under, she could never question Marco's intentions or his devotion to her. He did all this out of love. "If Star were to take part in this meeting, I'd feel like it would defeat the whole purpose of this home vacation thing."

"Would it, though? Even if it's _her_ choice?"

Marco shrugged again. "She's put herself through hell already a-and I just want to make it easier for her to deal with. I...feel like I'm not..."

"My boy, you must be daft!" River exclaimed. "You must stop putting yourself down like that. You've done more for my precious little angel than any of us have over the past year. You simply must give yourself some credit."

"I _must_?" He barked, anger beginning to boil. "No, I don't _have_ to. Not until...not until I've proven myself. And I haven't...not yet."

_Prove himself?_ Star thought to herself, still eavesdropping on the conversation. And then she began to think back to that pesky Mewman at the doctor's office that called him her "squire."

"That better not be something she put you up to-"

"**_NO!_** I-I mean, n-no it's not Star. It's _me_." He clarified, taking a seat on the ground as Eclipsa knelled down to continue consoling him. "It's just..." He sighed again. "I guess...I guess a part of me still sees myself as her squire. A-And I'm not bothered by that, I don't _mind_ serving as her squire. I _want_ to be her squire. She deserves one. She _deserves_ a squire that'll wait on her hand and foot and treat her like royalty & make sure she never gets into harm's way."

Star buried her head into her hands and silently groaned. _No, Marco, don't do this._

"But that's silly." Eclipsa interrupted. "You earned your knight's title. And even if that hadn't happened...why would you prefer to keep the title of squire instead of the title of...well, you know, her _boyfriend_?"

"I don't. But...I..." He loudly groaned and face-palmed himself.

"It's okay, sweetheart, take your time." Moon encouraged him, joining Eclipsa in kneeling to console him. After a brief moment of frustration, he calmed down enough and continued.

"When I came back to Mewni after we beat Toffee, I...I felt like I had to address the whole "her having a crush on me while I was dating Jackie" thing. But she was committing herself to being a better princess and all..."

"And she _was_ serious about that." Moon said, feeling a sense of pride for her daughter bubbling up inside.

"When she stuck me with Lavabo, I-I was taken aback. I didn't know how to react. I thought she was pushing me away. But then she tried to make it better by making me _her_ squire, but...that only made things tougher. Emotionally, I mean. I _had_ to be emotionally distant, especially since she was going out with Tom. And it was _so_ hard to do it for so long. Now that we're together, sometimes it feels..._weird_, I guess, to be close to her a-and sometimes I pull myself back from her. Sometimes...sometimes I feel like it's easier to be a squire - the guy that just does things for the princess - than her boyfriend. Sometimes I feel like she needs Marco the _squire_ more than she needs Marco the _boyfriend._"

Star could feel her heart sink. Not often, but occasionally, Marco would pull back emotionally from her. Whether it was during a kiss or an intimate moment or just a display of affection, in rare cases, he'd pull back without a good explanation. Maybe _this_ was that explanation. Having him as her squire was not something she took lightly. During that year on Mewni, she knew that there was an awkward tension around them. She was doing her best to avoid addressing her feelings for him, all the while unintentionally making things more uncomfortable & upsetting for him. Even though they were now together and _happy_ together, these revelations Marco was dropping were the end result of them poorly addressing their issues.

He didn't want to be emotionally distant from her. He wanted nothing more than to be able to safely give everything he had to her. But between his internal demons & Star's debilitating health issues at the moment, he often felt like he had to keep to himself to spare her any more grief. And he was entirely self-aware that it was his own doing and that Star was constantly advocating for him to be open with her. all while he tried to hide the hurt behind foot rubs & acts of servitude. With a fortified resolve, Star headed up to her room to change into something more formal, preparing herself for the meeting in question.

Inside the room, Moon & Eclipsa hugged the hurting child. "Sweetheart," Moon gently caressed his face. "You have _nothing_ to prove. Not to her, not to us, not to anyone. She loves you for the man you are on the inside _and_ out."

The boy had to wipe a tear from his eye. "I _know_ she does. And I know I'm silly to think this way, and I know I'm going _way_ too far with this whole "home vacation" thing. I don't want her to be in a bubble forever, a-and I know she's gonna want to jump back into the political game _eventually_..." He was stopped by Eclipsa embracing him again.

"You are a _beautiful_ soul, my dear. Star is incredibly lucky to have you in her life, and don't think for a second she doesn't know that."

He took a moment to collect himself. "When she was working for you...did she ever talk about me?"

"Oh, only all the time. She'd talk about you _far_ more than she did her then-boyfriend."

The flush of pride began to swarm onto his face. "Really?" Eclipsa nodded.

"Believe us when we say...she knows she has a good one in you. _We_ know she has a good one in you. You've jumped through so many hoops for her and she takes notice of it every time."

He nodded in agreement, but the aura of tension still lingered. "I...didn't mean to cause any disrespect about _any_ of this. I just wanted to keep her rested & happy & not let her have another meltdown..."

"We understand, we really do." Moon reassured him. "But please don't take this the wrong way...but you don't have the right to make choices this important _for_ her. She's intelligent & mature enough to do it herself. If she wants to stay far away from all of this political nonsense, we'll respect her wishes. But we have to hear it from _her_, not you."

Again Marco nodded in agreement. "I understand. I'll-" Before he could say anything further, there was a knock at the door. It opened, revealing Star - in her Silver Bell Ball outfit - standing with a few men in suits & ties. These were the men the Butterflies were scheduled to meet with regarding the playground issue. Also with them were Buff Frog wearing a bowtie on his shirt and Slime, Penelope's boyfriend.

Star carefully cleared her throat. "Mom, Dad, Eclipsa, Globgor, these men are from Echo Creek's City Hall." She referred to the humans. The others spoke for themselves. "They're here to talk about your proposal for an all-inclusive playground." She said calmly to the group. It was almost as if she had been practicing that sentence for her entire life just for this one moment.

"O-Oh, yes, of course." Moon nervously said with a stutter. "W-We weren't expecting you for another thirty minutes."

Star turned to the gentlemen. "Why don't you make yourself acquainted with the Butterflies? I'll go make some tea for us all and then I'll join you."

_I'll join you._ That got their attention, and it almost caused them all to shriek in surprise. "O-Oh, you'll be joining us, Star?" Eclipsa asked her. Star nodded with a soft smile on her face. Marco had a look of pure bewilderment on his face, and not a very subtle one at that. But he wasn't going to let any of his concern bleed into his speeches. He was there to support her no matter what. So he stood up, wiped away the lingering tears on his face, and walked towards the door, preparing to leave.

"I'll leave you guys to your business." He said quickly, hoping to get out before being stopped by Star. It did not work out like that. The girl stopped him gently and took hold of his shoulders.

"You and I need to talk when I'm done here." She said firmly; she was not subtle in her concern for him but chose to leave it at that for the time being; she kissed him gently on his lips and hugged him before sending him off. He didn't fight it one bit. He left and closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath before walked a few more steps away from the door and slinking to the floor. Now he was alone with his thoughts. And they were not very pleasant ones.

_What are you doing, Diaz!?_ He thought to himself internally. _You're treating her like she's a baby. But...she **is** my baby. My best friend. My rock. I **need** her to be around._ As quickly as he sat down, he stood back up and began pacing around. "You promised her a lengthy home vacation. _No_ politics, _no_ stress, no _worries_. And look what's happening! You blew it, you idiot!" The reason why Marco could relate so badly to Star's psychological & mental turmoil? He knew what it was like to go through it himself. It didn't happen as frequently or even as badly as it did with Star, but he felt it. So much so that he felt he had only one option at the moment: take it out on Star's rage room.

* * *

The meeting itself lasted for nearly the rest of the daylight. By the time things finally wrapped, the sun was about to set in the Earthni sky. The officials - plus Buff Frog & Slime - had left for the day, bringing an end to the formalities. Star was free to return to her home vacation, and she had every intention of doing so. After changing into a pair of sleepwear, she resolved herself to find her loving boyfriend. Fortunately, he was in the same place he had been for the past several hours: in her rage room.

He was sitting on the ground in a fetal position, head buried into his legs. There were sweat puddles surrounding him. He had done quite a number on the objects in the room, but the most notable damage was to an inflatable toy that heavily looked like Marco; it appeared as if its neck had been snapped. There was white stuffing scattered on the ground. Some of the walls even appeared to have punch holes in them. There was even one notable dent in the wall that caught Star's attention. It was sitting directly behind Marco's head, implying that at some point the boy had hit the back of his head against it in frustration. Star once again felt her heart sink. She had to say something, but what could she possibly say? In a huff, she reached around the shed and grabbed some flowers from out of the ground, returning to the shed and opening the door slowly.

Upon hearing the creek of the shed door, Marco's head shot up to face her. His pale face gave the game away. He felt humiliated, embarrassed, ashamed. And Star suspected she knew why. "...Hey." She said sweetly, still holding the flowers.

"Hi." He said quickly. The girl slowly crept over towards him and took a seat right next to him on the ground. She put the flowers on the ground in front of his feet, then planted a kiss on his cheek. Her eyes were tired & bloodshot, but she was in a good mood. "H-How was the meeting?"

"Actually, it went great." She had a smile on her face; she wasn't lying. "Eclipsa and I were able to negotiate some concessions for the monsters."

"That's great! Like what?"

"Well, they're scrounging up funds to buy the supplies we'll need to build the playground. Any extra funds leftover afterwards will go towards efforts to find sufficient housing for them. You know, so they don't have to sleep outside."

"Wow, that's wonderful. OH, but wait, aren't there Mewmans that also live outside because their homes kinda got...well...ruined from the cleaving?"

"...Yeah, thanks to present conditions, the proposed housing program would mean some Mewmans would have to live with monsters for the time being, and a lot of them are adamantly opposed to that."

"Gee, what a surprise." His sarcastic inflections got a laugh out of her.

"It's only one meeting. Obviously there's gonna be plenty more for us to figure out what we're gonna do about all this."

"Yeah...plenty of meetings..." As quickly as his vigor returned, it dissipated. He looked away in embarrassment, prompting her to respond with another kiss on his cheek & a tight hug.

"Okay, safe kid: talk to me. Let it all out."

"W...what do you-"

"Come _on_, Marco. I...heard everything."

His eyes shot right open. "Y-You did?"

"After I went up to my room, I came back to get something I left behind a-and I overheard you talking about..." Before she could finish, he loudly groaned and looked away again. The shame was palpable. "I..." Now it was her turn to groan. "I feel like I owe you a whole bunch of apologies."

He slowly lifted his head. The disappointment on her face broke his heart all over again. "...No, you don't. Honest. You're not the one with the problem, here."

"Obviously that's not true since _you_ still feel like you need to act like my squire!" She had to cove her mouth, realizing she was raising her voice at him. _This is not the time, Star. Don't get angry at him._ She thought to herself. _He's hurting_. "You haven't been my squire since Eclipsa's coronation. After that day, you went back home and you were back to being my best friend. A-And forget being a squire, you were _knighted_! You **_earned_** that title! And heck, forget _all of that_! You're my _boyfriend_, not my squire. Boyfriends are not supposed to wait on their girlfriends hand and foot like they're servants!"

"No, they're not supposed to _force_ their boyfriends to do it. But you're not. I'm doing it entirely by choice." He said, firm in his convictions. "I don't care what that pesky Mewman at the office said today. It's nobody's business but ours."

And all of a sudden Star was reminded of said pesky Mewman who called her out for Marco's behavior, despite Star fully knowing that Marco was giving her a foot rub completely of his own accord. She didn't ask him to do it, and she never would. "But it _is** my**_ business. What am I supposed to say to people like that? 'Oh no, he's not my servant, I never _asked_ him to get down on his knees and rub my feet."

"The only reason I got mad at her was because she was running her mouth at you. It's not her business."

"That's not the point, Marco. What am I supposed to think when my own boyfriend thinks it's easier for us if he acts more like a squire than like a boyfriend!?" Once again she covered her mouth to stop her rising temper. That was the line Marco uttered from earlier that continually stuck with her. Had she really screwed up so badly that he feels he can't even act like a boyfriend without acting like a squire? "I never should've made you my squire when you came back to Mewni." For a brief moment, Marco's heart sink. But then Star continued, "I should've just made you my boyfriend right then and there."

Another bombshell from her. "B...But you told me you got back together with Tom."

"I _did_, at that point. Because I was so sure I was never going to see you again and I moved on. And then you popped back in a-and I didn't really handle it well. I-I tried to push you away and make you want to leave Mewni so it'd be easier to get over you. But...I never could. No matter how hard I tried. I was just...badly in denial, and I hurt you so much because of it."

"Star-"

"No, Marco! Don't you get it? You don't owe me, _I_ owe _you_!" She began to clench her fists; she could feel her blood boiling beneath her skin.

"But-"

"No, it's true, and you know it. But you refuse to let me make it up to you."

"...what?"

She stood up and began frantically pacing around. "You're too nice to ever admit it, but you know I'm right. You know that I owe you for putting you through so much heartache. I pushed you away because I was a complete idiot that wouldn't even bring up my confession until I had no choice. I played off one of my favorite memories of you like it was just a product of superstition and forced us to give up that memory because of my own hubris! I drifted apart from you because I got _so_ wrapped up in working for Eclipsa and the kingdom and I made you almost give up on us! And yet...**_you're_** the one that feels like you owe me!" She managed to collect herself before she lost all control again. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly. "_Get a hold of yourself, Butterfly. This isn't about you, this is about Marco..." _Marco dashed to his girlfriend and embraced her tighter than he had ever hugged anyone in his life, letting himself devolve into crying. Star shortly after joined him, the tears flowing from their eyes. So much baggage that they continued to lug around despite their best efforts to shed it for good.

It seemed to always be this song and dance with them lately: blaming themselves for everything that happened, refusing to simply let it be, going overboard to show how much they loved the other, rinse, repeat. Although Star was by far the worst offender, suffering from a boatload of psychological & emotional trauma from a variety of issues, even to the point where Star herself had to question whether she was suicidal, Marco was not let off the hook either in his endeavor. His year spent helping Star on Mewni often left him disappointed & heartbroken as his feelings for the magical princess continued to grow. But it wasn't merely that.

He had to watch from afar as Star learned the hard way that everything she thought she knew about her lineage was a complete lie, spurned on by people who had a racist agenda they had every intention of keeping up. He had to watch her as she gave up the throne to someone that at the time they couldn't completely trust, all because she had been wrongfully screwed out of the throne. He had to watch her as she essentially sacrificed her personal life to fulfill a duty & fix an ongoing atrocity that should've never been her responsibility to begin with. He had to watch her exhaust herself for "the good of the kingdom" while she slowly began to drift away from him. He had to watch Star sacrifice herself and the relationship that she so badly wanted in order top stop a sociopathic racist from committing a monster genocide. He could never pretend that he understood what she went through, physically & mentally.

That's why he resolved himself to the place he was in: he pledged that no matter what, he would always be there for her. He would _always_ put her needs first no matter how badly he was hurting. He would _always_ stand by her side and do whatever he could to prop her up. In his mind, it was everything she deserved & more. And that included protecting her from further harm. Even something as simple as a board meeting with governmental officials was something that panicked him: it gave him Vietnam-style flashbacks to all the times she had to run on two hours of sleep **_if that _**just to help Eclipsa with important political matters pertaining to Mewni. He was not going to let her get hurt again. Thus, the idea for their unforgettable getaway _and_ the home vacation Star was currently on was born. And the worst part of it was: he _knew_ he was going overboard. He was well aware that he was doing too much for her. But he couldn't stop. He wouldn't let himself stop. And Star knew it too. _Everybody_ knew.

"I'm so sorry..." He squeaked out in between sobs. "I'm sorry-"

"I'm sorry too, Marco. Really." She answered back, pulling back slightly & wiping her tears away.

"Is it...is it wrong of me that I...that I kinda wish I could have you all to myself?"

And there was the truth. Well, _a_ truth at least, but it was a start. "...No, of course not. It's not wrong."

"It feels wrong...I have no right to hoard you all to myself, a-and obviously I...I can't stop you from wanting to jump back into this politics thing if you _really_ wanted to-" The girl gently placed her finger on his mouth, quieting him long enough to give him a gentle kiss.

"I know _why_ you feel this way and I _know_ you mean well. You don't want me to get hurt. You want to me to be healthy & happy & feel loved." He nodded along with everything she said. "Look, they all told me the same thing they told you: I'm not obligated to be a part of _any_ of these happenings. My involvement is completely optional. If I want out, I can stay out."

"Well that's good at least." She nodded in agreement. "And on the bright side, there's nothing important tomorrow, which means you can sleep in extra late _and_ you'll be able to have a big breakfast in bed. You know, like a princess _should_..." He could _not_ get over this hump, no matter how hard he tried.

"This obsession with me being treated "like a princess"...why does it bother you so much?"

"You know why. I just want you to feel rewarded for _everything_ you went through."

"And I appreciate that, but where do you draw the line? Or are you just going to spend the rest of your life waiting on me hand and foot like you're my servant wanting to please his master? You say you want _me_ to be rewarded, but where's _your_ reward?!"

"Do-"

"And don't you dare try that "you're all the reward that I need" bullshit with me! If it's not good enough for you, then it's not good enough for me. Period!"

Marco sighed but smiled. They were both so hardheaded & stubborn, but only with the most admirable of intentions. Nobody could deny how much they loved each other. "I know that you're right, but...I still have to try."

"...and so do I, Marco. And I'm not going to let you just put your own needs aside for me anymore. We are _done_ with that."

"I know, you're right, I'm sorry."

"I mean it, if anything is ever bothering you - whether _I_ did something wrong or you just want to complain about stupid stuff - you talk to me. Okay? I am always ready to listen to whatever you have to say. I love you, sweetheart. You deserve it."

"I love you too. And mark my words, I will prove it."

He kissed her cheek and sighed. "And just how are you going to do that?"

"Well..."

"That was a rhetorical quesiton-"

"Diaz, shut up. Just hear me out: you've been spending all of this time pretending to be _my_ squire. So..."

"Ugh, Star, _no_, you don't have to do that-"

"I want to. I really do. A-At least for a day. Alright? Let me be _your_ squire at least for one day. You've already done _so_ much for me and there's no way I'll ever be able to pay you back for all of it, but I'd like to at least try. Will you let me?"

He had convinced himself he was doing her a favor, that by taking it upon himself to put her needs above his at all costs, he was relieving her stress and allowing her to take comfort in his efforts. Clearly, he miscalculated. Why was it always good intentions that paved the road to hell? "...okay. Sure, whatever would make you feel better." They shared a comforting kiss. "I'm sorry again, I...didn't realize what I was doing..."

"Hey," She tussled his hair and hugged him again. "It's a _lot_ easier said than done, but you have to stop beating yourself up. You deserve better than that. I..._we_...deserve better than that." One foot in front of the other. That was all they could do. "Let's go back to your place and get your head looked at."

"My...h-" Star subtly directed his attention back to the dent in the wall, the one by where he was sitting. She then gently began feeling around the back of his head, detecting a bruise there. Her pained face gave the game away.

"Yeah, good luck explaining this to your folks."

"Eh, I've done worse."

She raised an eyebrow. "You...have?"

"Oh yeah," The two of them walked out of the shed, hand-in-hand, sharing a lovely conversation. "When I was a kid I used to hurt my hands all the time practicing my karate. I even practiced in the bathroom one time and accidentally punched the sink."

"Oh my gosh, even when you were a baby, you were a Marco! That's so cute!"

* * *

The following morning saw Marco laced up in his bed, dressed in his comfortable pajamas and awaiting his wonderful girlfriend to arrive with his breakfast. To pass the time, he took to reading something. More specifically, it was a rough cut of the first half of the first draft of the book Eclipsa was writing. He got so hooked on the reading material that he didn't even notice Star returning to the room with a table and a play of hot breakfast for him. She said nothing for a moment, allowing silence to fill the air. She felt enthralled watching her beloved get lost in his reading. The only thing that could break him out of his trance was her gently kissing his cheek & embracing him. "I didn't even hear you come in." He said to her.

"That's because you were having too much fun with your little book thing there." She teased. "Whatcha reading, anyway?"

"It's the book Eclipsa's writing." He answered, showing off how poorly the pages were stapled together.

"Oh that's right, I forgot she was doing that. I never actually got around to reading it."

He began to hand the book over to her. "You wanna read while I eat? It's a pretty engaging read, if you ask me."

She reached out and took the book from him. "Okay, I'll take you up on that."

"There's...even a lot about _you_ in that book."

That got her attention. And not really in a good way. "...oh, really?"

"Yeah, she dedicates a bunch of time in this book to talking about you. It's nothing but glowing praise for you. Do you wanna read it while I eat?" Star reluctantly took the pages from Marco while the boy had a huge grin on his face.

"S-Sure." She smiled nervously. "I-I'm gonna go in the other room. I don't wanna bother you while you're eating."

"You do what you want, but you're not a bother."

She silently nodded and took her leave, closing Marco's door behind her and taking a seat on the floor right next to the door. She opened the book and began flipping through the pages, looking specifically for the parts that mentioned her. True enough, there was an entire chapter dedicated to talking about Star. Nothing but good things could be found in this chapter. But what made it stand out from the rest of the book was that it wasn't just Eclipsa's words that were found here. No, as Star quickly learned through her skimming, all of her close friends, family, and loved ones contributed something nice to say about her.

Most of the compliments her family paid her were focused around her contributions to the kingdom: her willingness to do right by the monsters that were screwed over by past royal regimes, her devotion to doing right by all parties, etcetera. Revisiting those times through the words on the page wasn't particularly fun, but there was nary a single negative thing written about her. The compliments written to her by her friends were mostly focused around her infectious personality, her wild antics on Earth, and her love of all things cute & fluffy. Each sentence she read to herself made her eyes water a little bit more, especially when she got to the words of praise written by Marco himself. He had by far the most to say about Star. He recapped _everything_ the two had gone through - minus their sexual escapades, because nobody needs to know about that.

And then came the cherry on top: the last sentence of the Chapter of Star. _Our princess, our shadow queen, our best friend, Star Butterfly. We wouldn't be where we are without you. Thank you._ And there was a bunch of tiny red hearts surrounding the sentence. When her family told her things were going to be very different, they meant it. And this was the clearest evidence yet that they were going to stick by their word. All of this praise for her work and for her person...and for what? For her brain to constantly try to trick her into believing otherwise? Like it was doing now.

Star could feel her anger starting to rise. _Not again._ She said to herself. _It's so sweet, but...__Why do I **feel** like this?! Why do I feel like I don't deserve this!?_ She began gradually rocking back and forth, book still in hand, veins in her forehead visible from the growing rage. "Why? Why!? _**WHY?**__" _On the final rock backwards, the back of her head slammed into the wall, and the book fell out of her hands. Once the impact hit, her fury subsided, and it gave way to an overwhelming sadness. She buried her head into her legs and started crying. It was all she could do.

The impact was loud enough to cause Marco to race out of his room to check up on her. All he could do was stare solemnly at the sobbing princess. It looked like the words of praise truly did get through to her. If only she could just accept it without fighting back. He stood there silently for the longest time, only moving gingerly towards her as he himself fought to keep himself in control. Unfortunately, that was a battle that he too would lose. He sat down next to her and swarmed her with a tight hug, allowing her to cry into his shoulders as she allowed him to do the day prior.

The day will eventually come where the demons left behind from the terrible age of magic are permanently vanquished, where they can no longer torment our lovebirds and their loved ones. But today is not going to be that day.

* * *

**End of Episode 12!**

**This was was both fun to write _and_ difficult to write. For the record, this entire series of fics got started way before Steven Universe: The Movie even came out, and yet the more I go along, the more I see the potential for a similar path to this show as Steven Universe: Future. There's just too much screwed up stuff these characters have had to deal with that they need major help to get past.**

**Don't get used to this fast update schedule: I've just had waves of inspiration for the past few episodes and I don't expect that to keep up. But I hope you enjoy these episodes anyways.**

**And as always, please remember to read & review. **


	13. Star Butterfly: Dungeon Master

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 13: Star Butterfly: Dungeon Master**

**Episode Summary: Star entertains Marco's friends for the day with a rousing game of Dungeons & Dragons. With her as the Dungeon Master, one can only predict what kind of wacky shenanigans they'll get into.**

**Original Release Date: April 19, 2020**

* * *

On this lovely Earthni day, Marco found himself heading out with his folks. Today was a day set aside for going to look at colleges. Though he was adamant about taking the Fall off from education, his intentions to start in the Spring semester meant he needed to figure out where he was going to go sooner rather than later. They were all right outside the Diaz household; Star was preparing to send them off, having agreed to house-sit for the day.

"I made you a tuna fish & cheese sandwich, crusts cut off, shaped into a heart-" Star explained, handing Marco a paper bag. "plus there's a sealed bag of cheesy nachos, a little pudding cup, and a bottle of cold water for you, in case your throat gets dry or scratchy."

All of a sudden, Star was playing the role of overprotective housewife. Not that Marco minded; her caring nature was cute and he adored how much she wanted to care for him. "I'm sure my throat will be fine, but thanks. We're just going to look at a few schools, I probably won't even have to talk to anybody."

"You don't know that. And I sure as heck don't know that. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared."

He playfully rolled his eyes before bringing her in for a bear hug. "Thanks, honey. And thanks for agreeing to house-sit for us."

"Oh, it's no trouble. I'm not needed at the castle _and_ there's no political nonsense going on, so I'm all clear."

Angie & Rafael walked out of the house - Mariposa in Angie's arm - and stopped by Star, hugging her in return. "Help yourself to anything in the fridge, dear."

"Except the pecan pie. That's entirely off-limits!" Rafael said firmly. "It's my comfort food."

"Don't you worry, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, the house is in good hands." They shared one more hug before the Diazes went off, waving goodbye. "Good luck, guys! Have a good day!" The Diazes all exchanged goodbyes with Star as the car drove off. And now Star was left to her own devices for the day. That was at least 8 hours - likely longer - that she had to entertain herself. Surely she could find _something_ to do. She pondered her options as she took a seat on the couch. The awkward silence filling the air around her did nothing to quell any nerves. With so much nervous energy, she _had_ to do something. So she came to the only logical conclusion she could.

She was going to clean the house. That's right. Every single corner of the house was going to be cleaned from top to bottom.

* * *

It took some time, but Star put her mind to it and, after several hours, managed to clean every room of the house. Sweeping, dusting, scrubbing, you name it, and she did it. No prompting, no prodding, heck, the Diazes didn't even _ask_ her to do it. But she did. And she was _dang_ proud of herself when it was all done. But now she was exhausted, and there was bruising on her right hand - for some reason - and with the Diazes still away for at least several more hours, she had to find something else to do. And so she came to the next logical conclusion. She went up to Marco's room, took her boots off, and climbed into Marco's bed, preparing herself to settle for a quick nap.

Unfortunately that plan went up in smoke. As soon as she closed her eyes, there was a knock at the front door. The former princess excitedly jumped up, assuming it was Marco and his folks. She raced downstairs and opened the door. "MARCO-" Only to find that it wasn't. Instead, it was Alfonzo, Ferguson, Tom & Janna. Alfonzo & Ferguson were holding some sort of board game in their hands. "O-Oh, hey guys."

"'Sup, kiddo." Janna said with a smile.

"We're here to see Marco. He here today?" Alfonzo asked right away.

"I guess he didn't tell you guys. He's out today looking at colleges for the Spring." Alfonzo & Ferguson expressed visible disappointment. Janna, however, remained stoic.

"Oh he told _me_." And that was why. And the others were left befuddled.

"Me too." Tom chimed in.

"Wait, what!?" Ferguson exclaimed, outraged. "He told _you_ but not us? We're his friends! Marco loves us!"

"Marco _tolerates_ you, for reasons that I can only assume are known to the supernatural."

Tom raised an eyebrow to her. "Um, no, I actually _don't_ know why-"

"Oh my god, dude, it's hyperbole. Read a book."

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Star asked the group.

"We wanna restart our weekly Dungeons & Dragons meet-ups with Marco. It hasn't been the same since you made him up and leave us for Mewni to be _your_ servant."

Bad choice of words, Ferguson. Star began to angrily grind her teeth. "I didn't "make" him leave. He left by choice. And he wasn't my servant, he was my _squire_."

For some reason, neither Alfonzo nor Ferguson were buying it. "Sure, whatever makes you feel better."

"Guys, come on-" Tom started to object but was stopped by Janna, noting Star's groaning as she chose not to entertain their ignorance.

"Whatever. Marco's not here. Sorry to disappoint you."

The two nerd boys groaned. Janna stepped forward to face Star. "Hey, uh, you mind if we hang around here anyway? We have nothing better to do and it's pretty boring out there right now."

"Yeah the most exciting thing we've seen today is a couple of Mewmans eating out of a trash can." Tom added again, crossing his arms. "And no I will _not_ give you context."

"...okay then. Uh, s-sure, I guess that's fine. I got nothin' going on anyway, so come on in." The friends all began to step forward, but just as they were in the door, they were stopped. "UP BUP BUP! Shoes off." She said hastily. Initially, they tried to shrug it off. But no, she was dead serious. "I literally just spent three hours cleaning every room in this place top to bottom, you will _not_ track any dirt in here."

And of course, being the dunces they were, Alfonzo & Ferguson continued to shrug it off. "Good one, Star. You, being a clean freak?" But nobody else was laughing with them. Not Janna, not Tom, and especially not Star. "Oh you're serious." And when they turned to the other two, they noticed they had already removed their shoes.

"Guys just do it." Janna urged. Reluctantly, the two boys complied, and then everything was fine. Star offered them a complimentary beverage, but they all declined, instead wanting to just jump into the game.

* * *

Some time passed by. Star kept herself rested by laying on the couch. All the while the others were sitting on the floor, entrenched in their game of Dungeons & Dragons. And it was not going that well. With Alfonzo & Ferguson alternating as Dungeon Masters, the end results were always premature ends to the game, much to the frustration of Janna & Tom. They came here to play a good, long game of D&D, yet they had been denied that desire thus far, with each game ending early for various reasons...namely, that Alfonzo & Ferguson didn't actually know how to play, but more on that later.

Star took note of how the two alternating Dungeon Masters were playing the game. Although Star herself had never played a single game of Dungeons & Dragons, she got a thrill out of listening to Marco recount his time playing with his friends. It was super cute to her how into the game he got, and before any of the nonsense of the past year & change happened, she had plans to ask him to include her in a game with Alfonzo & Ferguson. Well...Marco was gone for the day, but that didn't mean Star couldn't be a part of it anyway. She slowly got up from her seat and walked over to the group.

"Hey guys..." She said nervously, noting Janna's crossed-arm posture & scowl. "Going good over here?"

"Does it _look _like it's going good?" She barked. "That's the third time we've had a short game. I'm pretty sure these dunderheads are doing something wrong."

"Hey!" Ferguson barked in objection. "Don't pin this on us! Maybe you and the horned guy are just playing wrong!"

Janna scoffed angrily. "I highly doubt that. You guys just suck at being Dungeon Masters!"

Both Alfonzo & Ferguson gasped exaggeratedly at Janna, feigning offense. "How dare you! We've been playing this game for years! We know what we're doing."

"Yeah, and being a Dungeon Master is hard work!" Alfonzo retorted, garnering a loud laugh from Janna.

"Uh, no. Being a Dungeon Master is actually pretty easy. If you know what you're doing, _anyone_ can be one. Even Star."

Suddenly Star found herself in the middle of this dispute. "Um, do _I_ get a say in this?" She asked, clearly not happy with being dragged in. Alfonzo & Ferguson had to restrain themselves from laughing. Apparently this was funny to them?

"Star? A Dungeon Master?" Star had previously been a princess, an acting queen, a monster killer, _and_ a monster defender. But apparently Dungeon Master was above her abilities? "Look, it's nothing personal, we love ya, Star, but Dungeons & Dragons is painstakingly hard to learn, and almost impossible to master!"

"And you think this girl - _this girl -_ doesn't have what it takes to figure out the ropes?" Janna inquired.

"Yeah, Janna's right. You _never_ want to bet against Star." Tom chimed in. "Especially since it's pretty much right up her ally: making up rules as you go along!"

"Yeah, and nobody's better at making rule up than m-" She stopped herself and side-eyed Tom, glaring annoyingly at him. She was playfully unamused. "Nobody's better at making rules up than me!" She finished at the other two boys.

Alfonzo sighed. "Alright, fine. Let's give it a try. Can't be worse than any of the times Jenna was at the helm."

"It's _Janna_, and how dare you, sir!" Janna loudly protested, which earned a chuckle from Star before she pulled her friend aside.

"Okay not like I don't appreciate you sticking up for me, but..._me_? Really?" She whispered.

"Marco talks about this game to you, doesn't he?" Janna asked; Star responded with a nod. "And you know how it's supposed to go?" Another nod. "Then you'll be fine. Think of this game as...like a story. You're the story teller. You're the one guiding us into an adventure. Whatever you want to happen...you can make it happen."

"Ooh, I like telling stories!" Star's mood suddenly perked up.

"And above all of that...it's just a game. Kid, go nuts. Don't stress over them treating this game as some gospel of holy perfection."

Star breathed a loud sigh of relief. "You know what? You're right. It's just a game. Let's go nuts with it!"

"That's the spirit, girl. Now go claim your thro-erm, seat! Go claim your seat!" Janna almost slipped in a word she knew would - for lack of a better term - trigger Star. The princess caught wind but ultimately let it pass thanks to her save.

"Thanks Janna."

And so the time had come. Star took her seat at the Dungeon Master's seat. This was it. She was the one running the show now. There was a surprising amount of pressure weighing down on her shoulders. She wanted to prove herself to Alfonzo & Ferguson, who decided today of all days to question her abilities. She wanted to make a good game for Janna & Tom, two of her dearest friends. She wanted everything to go right. Oh, and that wasn't even including how much she missed Marco...

And then suddenly a light bulb went off in her head. "Oh, hold the phone! I've got an idea! Give me a minute!" She got out of her chair and raced upstairs to Marco's room. She went into his closet & pulled out a big book - specifically it was the "Atlas of the Multiverse" - and returned downstairs with it. "Okay, we're good to go now!"

"What's that?" Ferguson asked as she excitedly opened the book and began flipping through pages.

"It's my old book of the multiverse! It was a lot more handy when, you know, magic was still a thing."

"What do you need _that_ for?" Alfonzo joined in the question-asking.

"Because, my little nerdy friends, we're going on a little trip today!"

"Where to?" Tom chipped in.

"Why don't we ask Ferguson? After all, I'm sure _he_ of all people would remember _this_ place..." An evil grin started to cross Star's face. Ferguson gulped, confusion crossing _his_ face.

"M-Me?" It had been such a long time since the adventure that Star was referencing. Ferguson's mind went completely blank. He turned to Alfonzo for help. "Y-You know what she's talking about?"

"N-No, not me!" Alfonzo yelled in protest, garnering a snicker from Star.

"Oh come on, Ferguson. Don't tell me you've forgotten..._Pixtopia?_ _The Pixie Empress_?"

_Now_ it was starting to come back to him. "Oh...**_Ohhhhhh _**oh _that_! Now I remember...that was a weird time. I almost got married to a pixie!"

"I _did_ get married to a pixie." Alfonzo reminded them, causing both Tom & Janna to shutter in disgust.

"Yeah...well guess what, guys? The Pixie Empress?" Star leaned in towards them slowly; they followed suit, suspecting she was about to whisper to them. "_She's back._"

Ferguson screamed in horror. "No! Not again! I'm not ready for commitment!"

"Then you better be ready to fight, my friend..." And thus, Star's tenure as Dungeon Master had begun...

* * *

_In a cold, damp basement, Ferguson found himself busy sharpening his sword. As a member of the Fighter class, it was his job to always have himself prepared for anything that would come his way at all times. Unfortunately, nothing could prepare him for what was about to happen. _

_Out of nowhere, the Pixie Empress of Pixtopia - as well as an army of dozens of smaller pixies - began slowly creeping up on the unassuming Ferguson, the Empress holding a duffel bag in her hands. Still sore over Ferguson calling off the wedding between the two of them, she swore she would have her way yet. And if he wouldn't come with her by choice, she would take his hand by force. She got herself close enough to him, then screamed a loud, fiery shriek while dunking the duffel bag over him and capturing his body within its confines. It was too late for him to escape, but he could still use his ear-piercing cowardly scream to alert the rest of his team in the building of his situation._

_Without warning, three other figures made their entrance down the stairs, taking a fighting pose towards the Pixie Empress. These three figures were Janna of the Thief Class, Tom of the Wizard Class, and Alfonzo of the Barbarian Class._

"The Pixie Empress of Pixtopia has assembled an army of pixies and they've captured our beloved fighter Ferguson!" Star the Dungeon Master narrated, testing her story-telling abilities in the real world. "It's up to you all to fend them off & save him from being dragged back for an arranged marriage that'll emotionally stunt him for the rest of his days!"

"Wow, thanks for the confidence boost, Star." Ferguson replied.

"That's '**Dungeon Master Star'** to you, good sir! Anyway..."

_The Pixie Empress turned to the group of heroes and hissed. "He's **MINE!** **ALL MINE!** You can't have him!"_

_Janna leaned in closer to Tom and Alfonzo, subtly directing their attention to the ceiling and noting the sprinklers. "Water renders pixies powerless. Keep them busy and I'll take care of the rest. Just don't draw any unnecessary attention our-"_

_Like clockwork, Alfonzo raised his hammer and began screaming wildly and uncontrollably. Janna & Tom both face-palmed._

"Alfonzo charges in towards the pixie army!" Star narrated as she picked up the four dice sitting in front of her, hidden behind the cardboard wall cutting her off from the others. Alfonzo followed suit; he was the first to toss his four die. "...Nineteen!"

Star rolled her die. The result was...twenty-two. 'Uh oh.' Star thought to herself. In this situation, her having a higher roll than Alfonzo presented a problem for the current state of the story. She had to think on her feet. What could she do? And then it started to dawn on her. They couldn't actually _see_ what her dice roll result was. Whatever she told them, they couldn't dispute. Her slightly hesitation briefly drew Ferguson's suspicion, but her quick recovery distracted him. "Twelve! Which means Alfonzo's swing of his hammer kills seven of the pixie minions!"

"Jackpot! I-wait, _kills_?" Alfonzo questioned, checking the papers in front of him. "My weapon isn't _that_ strong."

"The Pixtopia pixies are pathetically weak." Star explained. "They have strength in numbers, but that's about it."

Both Alfonzo & Ferguson were left bewildered for a moment. But Tom & Janna did not share that reaction. "...makes about as much sense as anything else here." Tom quipped.

"Told ya she'd make a good Dungeon Master." Janna smugly said to the other two, crossing her arms.

"It's only one scene." Ferguson retorted calmly. "Plenty of game left to play."

"Ferguson's right." Star agreed, cracking her knuckles. "Or have you all forgotten that Ferguson's still being captured by the Pixie Empress?" Gasps abound by the others.

_Janna managed to make her way to the ceiling and began to tinker with one of the sprinklers, only to be pulled down by a group of smaller pixies & thrown to the ground. The swarm of thirty pixies began to swarm in on Janna, but Tom stepped in and managed to take on the fight himself, with Alfonzo joining in shortly after, allowing for Janna to get back up onto the ceiling and fiddle with the sprinklers. Eventually she was able to fiddle with it enough to force it on. Water began spraying out and hitting the smaller pixies, crumbling them into dust on contact._

"Wait a minute..." Janna spoke up. "Shouldn't the Empress be melting too?"

"Hmm...you _would_ think so, wouldn't you?" Star responded, giving a sly, smug smile her way. The wheels in Star's head were turning something fierce. "Watch out! Here comes the Empress!"

_The Pixie Empress dropped Ferguson off to the side and dashed towards the other three. Her hands began to glow a blue aura with particle sparkles surrounding the aura. An energy blast fired from one of her hands, knocking all of them back into the walls._

"Boom! You're all knocked back! Empress's magical blast deals..." Star picked up her dice and rolled. "Twenty-two damage...each!"

"Hold it!" Tom said, grabbing the other set of dice. "My character has a shield spell he can cast up to twice a game. And I'm using it here, saving us..." He rolled. "Ten hit points each."

"Nice save, Mr. Lucitor." Star smirked with a huge smile lurking behind. She was enjoying herself. "Unfortunately that trick costs your group. The Empress gets away with Ferguson! She's taken him back to Pixtopia to make him her subservient husband!"

A brief moment of awkward silence from the group followed. "...okay, how do you know what that means?" The demon asked. Star shrugged.

"I bet it has something to do with Marco." Janna teased, winking Tom's way, then Star's way. Star scoffed.

"Even if it was, I _still_ wouldn't tell you."

"Excuse me!" Ferguson interrupted. "Can we talk about the fact that my group just let me get captured by those puny pixies?"

What was happening now? All of a sudden Ferguson seemed to actually be into the game? And he was blaming his group? Why? "We _let__ you_ get captured? Are you serious, dude?" Janna spoke out, annoyed at the accusation.

"They got the better of us! What were we supposed to do?!" Alfonzo protested.

"Oh, I don't know: do _better_?!"

"Yo, Ferguson, chill!" Star pleaded. She did not expect him to get so passionate about being pretend captured. "There's still plenty of game left. You're not being killed or anything!"

"How do _you_ know that?"

"The Pixie Empress doesn't want to eat you _or_ kill you. She just wants to make you do her bidding for the rest of all eternity!"

"I don't want that!"

"Don't fret! The others are on their way to rescue you!"

_Janna, Tom, and Alfonzo stood up and dusted themselves off. The Empress and her remaining minions had escaped with Ferguson. Luckily for them, there was only one place where she could've taken them. "Dammit, she got away!" Tom exclaimed._

_"Oh no, poor Ferguson!" Alfonzo whined. "He's afraid of commitment!"_

_"He's afraid of his own shadow." Janna deadpanned countered._

Which got everyone to turn to Janna, confused looks abound. "...Well, he is."

"Yeah but you don't have to rub it in!" Ferguson lashed out, embarrassed.

_Tom cast a spell and opened up a portal right next to the group. They all stepped through it, hoping they would land in the Empress's throne room._

"Ooh, tough luck, guys. Tom's portaling spell was _slightly_ off-target." Star narrated. "Don't worry, you're in the ballpark. Tom has led you all to...the Shard Mines!"

"Not the Shard Mines!" Alfonzo screamed again. "Anything but the Shard Mines!"

_The group stepped out of the portal on the other sides, taking note of their surroundings. "Shoot, this isn't the Throne Room." Tom exclaimed. _

_"It's not that far from here." Alfonzo clarified for them. "We just have to find our way out of here!"_

_The group split up and went in separate directions, trying to find their way out of the mines. Time was of the essence, and they couldn't afford to lose any more of it. Janna took particular interest in the shards, collecting a bunch of them and taking them with her into one of the corners of the mines. Janna's character was not just a Thief, but also a crafter. She had the ability to make weapons out of just about any materials that she could find. And carrying a trusty bag of supplies with her, she always had just what she needed to make excellent weapons._

_With the use of the shards, Janna was able to craft a powerful shield for herself to use to boost her defensive power, a chest plate for Tom, and miniature spikes for Alfonzo to use as offensive weapons. "Thanks for the upgrades!" Alfonzo yelled, checking out his new spikes. "I can work with this."_

_"Yeah, for like, ten seconds until you use all of them up at once on a failed attack plan." Janna scoffed._

_"Oh give him a break." Tom pleaded with her. "Or are you still sour over how he ruined our heist of those Intergalactic Squirrels?"_

_"We could've been rich beyond our wildest imaginations, yet Alfonzo decided it was a good idea to wake the king space squirrel from its hibernation."_

_"I thought it was a giant rock!"_

_Unfortunately for them their argument was cut short when they were ambushed again. This time it was by none other than the taskmaster pixie, the one responsible for ensuring that those who were supposed to be working in the mines were working and not slacking. "Oh, not again!" Alfonzo whined._

"Better be careful, guys." Star warned. "Taskmaster doesn't play around..."

"He's scary!" Alfonzo yelled.

"Not that scary, dude." Janna rolled her eyes.

"How would _you_ know that?" Now everyone was raising an eyebrow Janna's way, but the girl did not waver.

"I have my ways..."

* * *

A couple more hours of exciting Dungeons & Dragons game passed. At surface glance, one would think that there wasn't a problem to be had: the game was flying along, Star was proving herself as not only a good storyteller, but a more than capable Dungeon Master, and everyone appeared to be having a good time. But below the surface, there was a problem bubbling, at least as far as Alfonzo & Ferguson were concerned. You see, they were growing suspicious that Star was...wait for it...rigging the game by manipulating her dice rolls in order to extend the game's lifespan. They were right, of course. At key points in the game that was exactly what Star was doing. But one of the unwritten rules of Dungeons & Dragons is that the Dungeon Master frequently lies to his constituents, particularly with dice rolls. And that's okay, as long as it results in more fun & a longer game.

But apparently this is considered a sin by Alfonzo & Ferguson because...the Kool-aid Man is red, I don't know.

"And we made it!" Star narrated, continuing the game. "You're just outside the Empress's throne room! And you're _just_ in time for Ferguson's wedding!"

"Took you guys long enough!" Ferguson protested, crossing his arms. He might've been suspicious that Star was fixing the game, but that didn't stop him from getting sucked into said game. Star was just that good at telling a story.

"Oh excuse us, it's not our fault we got ambushed like five different times! Which wouldn't have happened if Alfonzo hadn't wasted all the spikes I crafted for him on a single enemy!" Janna objected, pointing a finger at Alfonzo.

"Me!? Well what about _Tim!_" Alfonzo pointed to Tom, getting his name wrong in the process. "He coulda used some of his spells to stop the taskmaster from chaining me to his wall of torture!"

"I _did_ try to use some of my spells. None of them went off because apparently I'm terrible at dice-rolling. And it's **_Tom_**_!"_

"A likely story..."

Star raised an eyebrow, then rolled her eyes before returning to the game. "Okay, enough nonsense. You've all made it to the throne room. The "wedding" is about to begin."

"Why did you say it weird like that?" Janna asked her.

"Well it's not really so much a wedding, since, well, Ferguson doesn't want to be here."

"Of course I don't!" He agreed.

"Oh, w-what was that?" Star stuck her eat out and cupped it in her ear, mimicking someone who's hard of hearing. "Sorry, we couldn't understand you since you're kinda bound & gagged at the moment."

"I'm **_what_**!?"

"Can you blame her though? Last time you were almost married to her Alfonzo, Marco, and I had to storm the place just to get you out of there. And even _then_ we barely made it. Of course she wouldn't want to leave anything to chance. That's why she's padlocked all of the entrances leading into the throne room. You're gonna have to get creative to get inside."

_Tom, Janna, and Alfonzo approached the door in front of them. Said door lead to the Empress's Throne Room, specifically the audience area, where everyone who was there - in reality, nobody - would get a good look as the Pixie Empress wed a tied-up, gagged, & bound Ferguson. The door was padlocked, and a giant key was required to open it up, which mean either they'd need to find the key that went to the lock, craft a lookalike, **or** find a way to destroy the lock._

_"Well..." Janna said, breaking the awkward silence. "I'm open to suggestions."_

_"Yo, maybe, like, Tim can use some kind of magic or something and just poof us inside." Alfonzo suggested._

Tom shook his head and glared at Alfonzo. "Okay, _now_ you're just doing that on purpose."

_"I can't, I already used my teleportation spell back when we fought that creature made entirely out of pixie dust."_

_"How does that thing even **breathe**!?" A confused Janna asked, prompting shrugs from both Alfonzo & Tom. "I know I know, time and place. Okay...there has to be a key in here somewhere. Or at least things I can use to craft a key."_

_"Why don't we just blow it up?" Alfonzo suggested. "You know, explosions and stuff."_

_"Oh, okay, what a **brilliant** idea." Janna sarcastically retorted. "And just where are you going to find explosives in **this** room?"_

_"B-But can't he just like magic them up or something?"_

Janna & Tom exchanged looks with each other, then at Star, who gave off a confused shrug. Then they looked at Alfonzo & Ferguson. "How is it that you two have been playing this game a lot longer than the three of us combined, yet you're _this_ bad at playing?"

"Oh, oh, you did _not_ just accuse us of being bad D&D players!" Ferguson sassed, clearly offended by the implication.

_Meanwhile, Tom decided to take a closer look at the lock standing before them. What he discovered was not at all what he expected to find. Let's just say there was a...visitor waiting for him in the keyhole. "Um...guys?" He tried to get their attention, but before it could go any further, a gigantic snake of all things popped its head out of the keyhole and began to chase Tom around the room. Tom's screaming was what got Janna & Alfonzo's attention._

_"The he-did that snake come out of the lock!?" Janna questioned. Tom's continued screaming was enough of an answer for her. _

"A snake? Really?" Tom turned to Star and crossed his arms, trying to suppress uncontrollable laughter.

"What? I had to come up with something." Star joked.

_Janna sighed before dashing towards the snake. Alfonzo was not far behind. Tom caught wind of them giving chase and deduced that he needed to stop running. His instincts proved correct; by stopping in his tracks, it caused the snake to briefly stop moving so it could prepare itself to pounce on Tom, giving Janna & Alfonzo just enough time to make up ground & leap onto the snake, stopping it in its tracks. The snake began to fight in an effort to shake them off. Meanwhile the gears in Tom's head were turning._

_"I have an idea." Tom said. "Guys, on my signal, jump!"_

_"What!?" Janna & Alfonzo shouted simultaneously._

_"Are you nuts!?" Janna continued._

_"I think I can use a spell to both incapacitate the snake **and** break the lock!"_

"Ooh, Tom's got an idea!" Star narrated. "Let's see if it works."

_"JUMP!" On Tom's cue, Janna & Alfonzo leaped off the snake, and before it had a chance to regain its surroundings, Tom cast a spell on the snake, levitating it into the air. Slowly he moved his arms to mimic a throwing motion, winding up and then launching the snake towards the lock. _

Tom grabbed the four dices and shook them. "Okay come on, Tommy needs a new pair of leggings!"

"Hey, leggings are _my_ thing, pal!" Star said, half-joking and half-serious.

Tom rolled the dice. The result of the four die was a twenty-one. "Yes! Blackjack!"

"Never go to Vegas, dude." Janna said, shaking his head and patting his shoulder.

Star grabbed her set of die. "Okay, so if I roll 11 or lower, the lock's broken and you guys are in!" Star explained, shaking the die in her hands. Ferguson was watching her very intently, which internally gave Star the creeps. She rolled the dice. The initial result: fifteen. Too high. The attack was going to fail. Star did not want that, at least not here. It would be one thing if they were in a climactic battle with the Empress. But it wasn't. She didn't want to prolong the parts that she deemed boring. Plus, they still couldn't see her dice. "Eleven! On the dot!" She yelled rather convincingly. Tom & Janna bought into it easily. Alfonzo was slightly suspicious, and Ferguson was almost completely unconvinced. But Star soldiered on. "The lock breaks! You're in!"

_The lock shattered on impact, and the snake was tossed to the side like it was nothing. The three heroes raced through to find that there were on a balcony, well above the altar where the Empress was about to wed a tied-up Ferguson...who also happened to be held above a cauldron sitting on an open fire._

"Um...I'm sorry, what now?" Janna objected.

"Oh yeah, sorry to break this to you, Ferguson," Star turned to Ferguson. "But the last time you were almost married to her, she didn't actually want you to be her King. She wanted you to be her dinner."

"WHAT!?" Ferguson shouted in horror. Alfonzo followed suit, while Tom sat there jaw-dropped.

"Yeah, Pixtopia has some _really_ weird ways of life."

"Why would she want to _eat_ him? Doesn't he, like, exceed her daily recommended fat intake?" Janna asked, simultaneously posing a legitimate question _and_ throwing an insult at the boy.

"I'm sitting _**right here**__!"_

_ Surrounding them were several larger-than-normal pixies acting as guards all laser focused on facing forward. They were trained to shoot with their weapons on anything that came into their sight. Anything._

_"I don't think an ambush is going to work here." Tom remarked._

_"But we gotta save Ferguson somehow!" Alfonzo complained loudly before having his mouth covered by Janna._

_"Shut it, you wanna give us away?" She whispered. "We just gotta be stealthy, that's all."_

_"Which none of us are actually good at except for **you**." Tom pointed out._

_"Well, you guys are just gonna have to learn on the job, because I am **not** doing everything here!"_

_So the three of them put their heads together and used the materials they had with them in Janna's bag to come up with a strategy. Luckily they had just enough materials to make it work. The plan was simple: tie Janna up to a rope and lower her down low enough to grab the guards one-by-one while keeping her out of sight of everyone else. Once all the guards were dealt with, they'd rescue Ferguson and get him out of their quickly enough to avoid a harsh confrontation with the Pixie Empress. But that was all assuming that the plan went perfectly with no hiccups._

_They set Janna up and proceeded to lower her down very slowly. They got her to within striking distance of one of the guards. Once she was low enough, she reached out and grabbed the guard's head. _

_And that's when it occurred to her and the others that they did not think this through all the way. The guard was somehow too heavy for Alfonzo & Tom to be able to pull it **and** Janna up. And once Janna's hands touched his head, the guard began to scream, which prompted Janna to do the only thing she could feasibly do in that current set up: snap the guard's neck. What is it with this group of characters and snapping necks?_

"Oh, good thinking there!" Alfonzo sarcastically cheered.

"We didn't account for the guard's weight, okay?" Tom said angrily. "We're not perfect!"

"Well get it together! I don't want to be eaten!" Ferguson protested.

"Yeah, you guys better get your act together." Star said with an evil grin on her face. "Because now you're in for the fight of your life!"

_The guards all screamed, alerting the justice of the peace and the Pixie Empress of what was happening. The two guards pointed their weapons up at the balcony while the Pixie Empress, in a rage, started flying up towards the balcony. She launched a magical blast at the ground, causing Tom & Alfonzo to be knocked off the balcony and hurdling towards the ground, where they impacted **hard**._

"Ooh, that's a tough one!" Star lamented, grabbing her die. "Let's see how much it costs you two." She rolled the die. This time it was a lower result: Twelve. It would make such a minimal impact on their hit points. So why not go for some anarchy this time? "Twenty-four! _And_ with my nifty "damage enhancer" card that I can play once a game, that's an extra ten damage each-"

"Hold it!" Ferguson yelled. He wasn't having it any longer. He reached over and yanked the cardboard in front of Star's seat.

"What the heck, dude!?"

Yanking the cardboard exposed the dice on her table, and the result didn't match her claim. "I KNEW IT!" He shouted. "You _were_ cheating!"

"...wha-"

"I bet you've been cheating this whole time. Look at this!" He directed their attention to the dice on her table. "She's been fudging the results of her dice rolls all game long! She's not a Dungeon Master. She's a fraud!" Ferguson was showing legitimate rage...for some reason. It resonated somewhat with Alfonzo, who shared disappointment over the revelation. But not Janna or Tom. In fact the two of them were more baffled at Ferguson's anger than Star's dice rolling.

"Dude...it's a _game_." Star reminded him. "No need to get so worked up over it."

"It's not just a game. It's Dungeons & Dragons!"

"Yeah! It's a highly sophisticated, well-rounded tabletop RPG!" Alfonzo added.

"It's a game where you play pretend with dice and pieces of paper." Janna said completely deadpanned. "Besides, Star's just doing what any _competent_ Dungeon Master is supposed to do."

It was as if her words went completely over the heads of Alfonzo & Ferguson. They stared at Janna like she had eight heads, all of which were melting. "Huh?"

"Do neither of you actually read any of the handbooks or watch any tutorials online? Any semi-competent Dungeon Masters knows what they're doing. The point of the Dungeon Master is to make sure the game is _fun_. If a game ends early because all of their party members succumbed to death or whatever, is the Master doing their job? No! If Star fudged some of her rolls, it was probably because she thought if she didn't, the game would become less fun if not end early entirely!"

Ferguson, caught in a corner, scoffed & tried to keep a tough front on. "Handbooks are for amateurs!"

"And besides,none of that stuff actually protects the integrity of this game! We play to respect it, not flaunt our make-believe rules out there!" Alfonzo continued, further causing face-palms for Janna.

"So you guys mean to tell me...you'd prefer your games to end prematurely every time rather than artificially extend the run time of each game & increase the fun specifically because of your "integrity?"

Alfonzo & Ferguson both nodded proudly. "Yup!"

"Doesn't sound much like integrity to me." Tom commented.

"Yeah, word of advice, when they say things like "integrity," they don't actually mean _integrity_." She gently jabbed his arm.

"Oh." He responded monotone, only to have the weight of her statement slowly sink in. "Ohh...**_OHHHHH_**! Oh, I thought you humans used sports to overcompensate for-"

"_**YO**_!" Came a voice that wasn't actually among the group at the moment. Everyone turned towards the front door to see that it was in fact Marco who shouted, standing alongside his parents who were holding his baby sister. "Not in front of the baby!"

"...I-"

"_**MARCO!**_" Star exclaimed, delighted to see her beloved back. As the family all attempted to step in, however, Star intervened. "WHOA WHOA WHOA STOP _**STOP**__!"_ She shouted, getting them all to stop in their tracks quickly. "I cleaned this entire house from top to bottom while you were gone. You will **_not_** dirty it up. Shoes _**off**_!"

The family all stood in silence for a moment. Star? Cleaning the house? It was plausible, sure, but who would've guessed she would get so passionate about not ruining it? But before any of them could articulate any of these thoughts, baby Mariposa reached down and took off her little boots, which broke the ice with the family and prompted them to follow suit. Once that was done, Marco walked over to the group. "So...uh...playing Dungeons & Dragons, I see." Marco said slowly.

"I was the Dungeon Master!" Star exalted with glee.

"It was fun." Janna admitted with a sly smile on her face, delighting the rebel princess.

"No it wasn't!" Ferguson objected. "Star cheated! She kept manipulating her dice rolls to artificially extend the game."

Marco looked dead on at Ferguson like he had six heads. "...You...You do know you're allowed to do that as Dungeon Master, right?"

"_**THANK YOU**__!" _Shouted a vindicated Janna. Needless to say, Ferguson & Alfonzo were again confused & bewildered.

"N-No you're not!" Alfonzo flailed.

"I _knew_ there was a reason our games were always short. This is why I never looked forward to either of you guys being the Dungeon Master."

Ferguson began stammering. Looks like he wasn't as well versed in Dungeons & Dragons as he thought he was. "O-Okay, fine! So what if she can do that? Doesn't mean the integrity of this game is any less besmirched."

"Integr-it's a tabletop RPG!" Marco argued. "It's supposed to be for _fun_! And I don't think you're in a position to lecture us about integrity since you don't even seem to know how the game's supposed to be played!"

"The point of Dungeons & Dragons is to immerse you and your friends in a fantastical adventure! Get lost in the madness! Have _fun_! The Dungeon Master's purpose is to _tell a story_. And you know what? Star's a great storyteller!"

"Why thank you, Janna." Star smiled widely. "We should _totally_ do this again!"

"Come me in."

"_And_ me!" Tom added.

"Not us." Alfonzo & Ferguson joined together. "If Star's the Dungeon Master, we're not playing!" Ferguson turned to Marco. "Isn't that right, Marco?"

You could write a novel just on the features of Marco's baffled facial expression. "Huh?"

"Come on, the three of us were the original three amigos of Dungeons & Dragons!" Alfonzo argued. It took all of Janna's willpower - and some intervention from Tom - to stop her from laughing out loud right then and there. "It wasn't the same when you ran off to Money to be with the princess!"

"...Mewni-"

"And adding Jenny and the Tim man over there haven't helped make the game any better."

"Okay you're _definitely_ doing that on purpose now."

"Nobody understands this game better than you, dude. What do you say?"

Marco was having none of it. "Guys...she's my girlfriend." He held up his right hand, showing off the promise ring on his ring finger. "I'm gonna _marry_ that girl one day. But come on, don't make me choose. It doesn't have to be that way!"

"Why should we believe you? You already flaked on us once when you up and left to go to her magical dimension all just be to her servant & stuff!" Ooh, Ferguson was hitting a sore spot. Star's face went pale, then red, all in the span of a second. "I bet she didn't even play this game with you once while you were busy cleaning up after her!"

Before Star had a chance to scream, Tom intervened, putting himself in front of her and unleashing his fury. He surrounded himself in a flame aura and pointed his hands at them. "Get out! _**Out****!**_"

Tom's sudden display of anger in defense of Star was enough to scare both nerd boys, causing them to flee...while remembering to pick up their shoes as well. Once Tom was sure they were completely gone, he relented & returned to his normal state. A moment of awkward silence passed while Marco's parents left Mariposa in Marco's hands and took off to tour the house. Star said she cleaned it top to bottom. They were eager to see just how much that held up.

"So...same time next week?" Janna asked, gently nudging Star's arm.

"You really mean that? You're not just saying that to be nice?"

"No way. I told you, you're a great storyteller. This was fun."

"Yeah, although I'm not gonna lie, part of me was hoping we would let Ferguson get eaten by the Empress."

"Empress? Oh ho ho, Pixtopia." And now Marco was having quite the time traveling down memory lane. "Good times. Good times..."

"You better be careful, Diaz. She could give you a run for your money as a Dungeon Master." Janna teased, now nudging _him_ in his arm while Tom cleaned up the D&D play materials & prepared to head out.

"Oh we'll see about that. I've got a head start on her there." Their joking led to them breaking out into laughter as Tom & Janna readied to leave.

"We'll see you later, guys."

"Thanks for the fun game, Star!"

With that, they took their leave. Once they were gone, Star happily embraced Marco, thrilled to see her beloved back home. "I'm glad to see you too." Marco laughed.

"How was your day? Did you get into any awesome schools yet?"

The boy couldn't help but continue laughing at her optimism. "Star, I only got to go see _one_ school today. It was just to fill out a bunch of boring paperwork. I won't know for a while if I even got in. But it _is_ an awesome school."

"Well at least you had a good day."

"And so did you, from the looks of it."

These positive emotions were further intensified when Angie & Rafael returned from their home inspection, Rafael embracing Star in a massive bear hug. "Our little SuperStar!" He declared, while Star laughed furiously at being bear hugged by her future father-in-law. "The house is shining!"

"You didn't have to do it, but thank you so much for the help." Angie joined in the hug. "Must've taken you hours to finish."

"Oh it was no trouble, honest." Star assured them. "Just happy to help. The only thing I couldn't fix was the hole in the wall I made. S-Sorry about that."

"That's not a problem. Angie and I can fix the both of them up another day."

"That's a rel-wait, hold up. _Both_?" Angie, Rafael, & Marco all exchanged looks before leading Star up the stairs - past Marco's room where the first hole had been made by her the other day - and into the bathroom. True enough, there was a small hole located just adjacent to the left of the bathroom mirror above the sink. Star's mind was drawing a blank. "I...I don't remember-"

"Don't worry about it, that's easy to fix." Angie reassured her, bringing her in for another hug. "Thank you again for the wonderful surprise."

"Aww, you're welcome. Honest, it was no trouble, Mom." Whoops, slip of the tongue there. Or was it. "ANGIE! I mean, Angie. It's no trouble _Angie_." She covered her mouth in embarrassment. As if she wasn't already going through major mother issues, the last thing she wanted was to start anything between Angie and Moon due to her own problems. Thankfully for her, Angie brushed it off and took it as a compliment. She already looked at her as if she was her own daughter anyway.

"We're going to go start dinner now. You kids have fun." The two adults left the kids to their own devices as they took Mariposa with them into the kitchen.

"That leaves with _maybe_ an hour to squeeze in some fun before it's time to eat. That sound good to you?" Ever the gentleman, he made sure to always ask her before he engaged in anything risque. Of course, with Star, nine times out of ten, he didn't need to ask.

"Oh you know it. You go get a head start, I'll...I'll join you in a minute." He kissed her cheek before departing, leaving Star by herself for the time being in the bathroom. She took two cautious steps towards the bathroom mirror. Her gaze was fixated on the hole next to it. Where did it come from? She could've sworn she would've seen it while she was cleaning...except...

_**[Flashback]**_

_**Star was just finishing up cleaning the bathroom. She spent well over an hour cleaning the entire bathroom, tiring herself quite some in the process. The mirror was the last thing that had to be cleaned. During her cleaning, she kept her gaze away from the mirror the whole time...for obvious reasons. Unfortunately she couldn't keep this up forever. Once she was finished drying, she had to examine the mirror to ensure that she had gotten every corner, and when she looked up...**_

_**The night of the event that changed her life - the explosive outburst, the attempted suicide, whatever you want to call it - still haunted her after such a long time. To this day she could barely look at a mirror without Vietnam-styled flashbacks of what happened. All it did was consume her mind with the self-loathing & self-sabotage she had endured ever since and even before it happened. She couldn't go a full day without at least some trauma crossing back into her mind, no matter how hard she fought against it.**_

_**Her fists clenched, her teeth gritted, her eyes seethed with fury. She couldn't ****stand**** the person she saw in the reflection. She despised that person so very much. In a fit of rage, she lifted her right fist and went to throw it through the mirror, stopping herself just before she made contact. She might've been angry, but she didn't want a repeat of that night either. Instead, she redirected her punch to the wall, slamming her fist hard into it, making a crater right next to the mirror and bruising her knuckles in the process. **_

_**It wasn't as physically painful as when she slammed her fists through her mirror. But it was just as emotionally painful.**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

Little did she know that while she was reminiscing, Marco had returned - now wearing a red bathrobe - and was taking in her actions. "Star?" His quiet utterance broke her out of her trance. "You ready?"

She took one look at him in his robe; that was all she needed to break her out of her self-loathing & get her mind racing with enticing & fulfilling thoughts. "Yeah. I'm ready." She raced over to him & embraced him, following him back to his bedroom where they proceeded to have themselves a ball of fun under the blankets. Time spent with Marco - steamy or not - was time well spent for her, and it was a perfect cap to what had been overall a highly satisfying day.

* * *

**End of Episode 13!**

**So full disclosure: I know next to nothing about Dungeons & Dragons. I deliberately challenged myself with this chapter, trying to expand myself and all that. I may have gotten some rules wrong but I hope I at least did the game & fans of the game justice. I always thought Star would make a good Dungeon Master. I also hope you guys enjoyed the Season 1 callback. That season needs some much deserved love in my opinion. ****Let me know what you think! **

**And as always, don't forget to read & leave a review! The feedback is much appreciated! **


	14. Double Laced Butterfly (Part 1)

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 14: Double-Laced Butterfly (Part 1)**

**Episode Summary: An innocent happenstance of Star being committed to two events on the same day turns into a spectacle of self-discovery for herself _and_ her boyfriend.**

**Original Release Date: April 25, 2020**

* * *

On this lovely Earthni day, Star found herself starting her morning routine relatively early. Well...relative to when she would wake up sometimes since the Cleaving. Some days, with her condition so erratic & inconsistent, she wouldn't wake up until 1 or 2 in the afternoon, if she was lucky. Today, though? She considered a 9-ish morning wake up time a victory. She took very little time in dressing and caring for herself, finishing up in the bathroom by washing her face with warm water and adjusting her outfit. All of this while avoiding the mirror like it was the plague and using her new phone's video camera feature to properly groom herself.

Today, her outfit consisted of a bit more color than she was used to recently. Today, she sported a teal "Star Butterfly" leather jacket with a multi-colored "Bubble Butt" t-shirt, which complimented nicely with her green Edgar dress outfit. She paid extra attention to her hair. The long, flowing locks that she chopped almost completely off just a few weeks prior were beginning to grow back, much to her delight. She didn't regret the bold step in giving herself a massive makeover, but she was certainly elated to have her flowing locks slowly coming in again. The only thing out of place was her headband; she remained hesitant to return to her signature devil horns headband, instead continuing to wear her new black headband with the twin shimmering stars. Other than that, you'd swear that her makeover was just a fever dream.

Without a word uttered, she finished up and departed, heading down the hall towards the stairwell that would lead her to the main lobby. On her way, she passed by her mother's room, where she caught wind of her and River conversing at a table with stacks of paper spread out; they appeared to be talking about some political business. Despite the fact that she had an all-but-permanent optional reprieve from politics, she still felt compelled to inquire. She knocked on her mother's door. "Mom? Dad?"

"There's our little bucket of sunshine!" River exclaimed, eagerly greeting her at the door. Moon was not too far behind. "You look quite colorful today!"

She chuckled, her face blushing slightly. "Thanks, Dad. W-What are you guys up to?"

"Just going over some formalitles and paperwork," Moon explained, leading her to the table. The height and sheer number of stacks blew Star away. So many loose papers.

"Holy corn this is a lot...you know, I could stay behind and help you guys-"

"Oh don't even think about it, sweetheart. You go enjoy your day, your father and I will be fine." Moon insisted, the smile on her face glistening in the light. Poor Moon was trying. As was Star. Despite the obvious unspoken baggage still lingering between the two, they loved each other & were determined like hell to fix what was broken & move forward. "You can help us tomorrow."

The teen sighed. "Mom, I appreciate that, but I wouldn't mind. Really." Her eyes darted towards one of the smaller stacks of paper, which she unconsciously started to rummage through. The contents of said paper took her by surprise. "What's this?" She quietly skimmed through the words. "Exhibition match?"

"Oh quite! One of the proposals from Earth's rulers-"

"Dad...you mean Echo Creek's mayor & governor..." Star corrected him. There was still a learning curve when it came to how Earth's government system functioned on a small _and_ large scale.

"Whatever those people are called..." And River was not one to be interested in such formalities. "One of their proposals was a Cornball exhibition match to take place the day of the playground's grand opening." The day that construction on the new Earthni playground was set to begin was not too far away now. "It would be the game that formally kicks off this year's Cornball season! Doesn't that sound exhilarating!?"

Star mulled over the idea for a brief moment. The more she thought about it, the more she agreed with it. "You know what? That...that does sound like a really ingenious idea. It could like a multi-race bonding moment for our new world if we pull this off! Between actually building the playground and this, it'll surely be a huge hit with everyone...I hope..."

"But wait, there's more." Moon said proudly to her daughter. "You have Buff Frog to thank for this..."

"...What does that mean?"

"You're going to be the one that delivers the game ball!"

"...what now?" Star's knowledge of Earth sports was still rather limited.

"Your mother and I have been researching the Earthly sports." River explained. "In some of them it's customary for one of the spectators to personally deliver the game ball to the playing field. That's going to be _your_ place! Er-if you want, of course."

"It's considered quite the honor in Marco's world. And there'll be a few hundred spectators in the bleachers eager to pay you their respects when you make your entrance."

What a proposition. The first official Earth/Mewni-collaborated sporting event showcased at the opening of the new playground? Star getting to deliver the game ball? Having a few hundred people - corn knows how many comprised of friends, loved ones, and casual mutuals - paying their respects to her? All while then getting to be honorary assistant coach for Katrina's team? Sounded like a dream package. "Wow that...that all sounds wonderful." She did her damnedest to feign excitement over the circumstances presented to her. How she wanted to just soak it all in without incident or complaint. How she wanted to be free from her mind attempting to strangle her whenever she came into contact with unexpected praise & affection.

"I'm sure Buff Frog will fill you in on the rest of the details. You're off to see him and his daughter's Cornball team today, are you not?" Moon asked her daughter.

"I am. They're holding a practice today, then a casual game in two days. I think I'm gonna be assistant coach again."

"And you'll be a fine mentor to those youngins!" River declared, embracing his daughter. Moon joined in shortly after.

"Your father's right. You'll do great."

"Thanks Mom, thanks Dad." They broke away, paving the way for Star to bail while she still could. "I'll be sure to say hi to Buff Frog for you." She waved them farewell and went on her way, traversing down towards the lobby and out the front door, where her loving boyfriend was waiting there with a bouquet of flowers in hand. She playfully rolled her eyes and smiled. "Oh gosh, Marco, really?" She took them from him and hugged the boy. "Thank you, that's so sweet."

"It's not even the fancy kind of flowers." Not sure what compelled him to admit that, she never would've known or cared. "I went cheap today and I'm kicking myself for that."

"Marco, can you go one day without being a Marco?"

He couldn't help but laugh at her question. "No, I guess not."

And she rewarded his honesty with a sweet kiss. "That's just fine by me."

* * *

So the two, hand in hand, made their way toward the practice field, where Katrina's Cornball team, their coach, and Buff Frog were all waiting for them. Scattered around them were a few bystanders wandering around; included in this group were Janna, Tom, Slime, Penelope, Ludo, Dennis, and Jackie. "Marco! Star!" Jackie called out, greeting the two with a hug.

"Aww, guys, don't tell me you came all the way out here to support _me_." Star said, shying away from facing them to hide her blush.

"Don't worry, we didn't." Janna interjected, half-jokingly. "We came out to see Katrina here clean house." Her sentence caused Tom to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"...I thought when you said you "bet the house" on her that you were joking."

"How do you know that I'm not?"

"Star!" Called Buff Frog, racing over to the group with Katrina, embracing her on impact. "You have arrived! We worried you would not show."

"How could I miss this?!" Star exclaimed joyously. "I've been looking forward to this all week!" A slight pause. "I'm actually going to _coach_ this time, right? You don't have another one of those "special" chairs for me, do you? N-Not that I don't appreciate you doing that for me, but-"

Buff Frog gave off a hearty laugh and combo'd it with a pat of her shoulder. "No no, not this time. That was just gesture of good will from me and children."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. I promise you guys I'm gonna make a great assistant coach!"

"You don't need to convince us, or the team." Katrina reassured her. "Let's go!" She took Star's hand and ran off back to the team, with Buff Frog trailing, giving off another hearty laugh as he did so. This left the other teens to their own devices. And it was Janna who broke the silence.

"What? No refreshment table?" Anything to lighten the mood.

The teens all scattered on the ground and found themselves their own places to sit, all watching from afar as Star let herself get immersed in the wonders of coaching. The teens all split up into groups of two. Janna & Tom sat in one spot together, Slime & Penelope in another, and Ludo & Dennis in another, which left Jackie & Marco left. Jackie found herself a comfortable patch of grass and invited Marco over to her. "Diaz, over here!" She said, patting the spot right next to her. The boy found himself momentarily flustered but happily accepted her invitation.

"T-Thanks!" He squeaked out, walking over to her and carefully sitting himself down right next to her. _Easy, Marco. It's just Jackie. It's **just** Jackie..._ He took a good look over at her; her hair glistened through the reflection of the sun, her eyes twinkled, her smile smoothing & sweet. And then there was the rest of her. He certainly knew why Star was having so much trouble acting normal around her...wait, why was he thinking this? He wasn't supposed to be having these thoughts. He was over her, wasn't he? Wasn't he?

And then she wrapped an arm around his shoulder. _Oh boy, something's wrong._ He thought to himself as she looked over at him, keeping her smile wide. "You know, Marco, we really haven't caught up all that much." She said. "I saw you like once before you had to go back with Star and the whole world became...well..." She gestured broadly, signaling Earthni as the culprit. That got a laugh from the two of them, Marco's being slightly forced to cover up his discomfort.

"Yeah, s-sorry about that. It got kinda crazy. But you're right, you and I gotta catch up. I...I've missed you." Was that an inappropriate thing to say? If it was, it didn't bother Jackie.

"I've missed ya too, dude. I miss us hanging out." It always seemed like she knew just what to say. "So how did the school visiting go?"

"O-Oh, pretty good. I checked out this sweet college about an hour away: The Robert Holden Arts & Crafts College. It's got everything: sports, music...oh! There's even a karate dojo that teachers students looking to take up all kinds of martial arts. There's a few spots open for a new instructor and I put my name in!"

"Dude, that's awesome!" She lightly punched his arm with her free hand. "Congrats! Hope that pans out for you." And then she followed up with a hug.

"Thanks. Me too." His face started to blush slightly. He had to keep the conversation going to avoid arising any suspicion on her end. "H-How about you? How're things with you and Chloe?"

"Spectacular. We have so much fun together-" She stopped herself briefly. "Not _that_ kind of fun. Not yet, at least." That earned her a nervous laugh from Marco. "She's super awesome to hang with. She's even been teaching me some new skate moves."

"Is that right?"

"Yup. And she has insane levels of talent. She makes them look _so_ easy, but trust me, they're not. I'd love to show you guys. There's a skating event down at the new skate park in two days. Chloe and I are competing in it, it's gonna be sick. I'd really love for you and Star to be there."

His face lit up. "I'd love to go! Oh but wait-" He had to use rational thought here and be honest. He wanted to be a part of it, but... "Star's gonna be assistant coaching in the exhibition corn ball game that day."

"Aww, man..."

"Wait, don't despair. I'm sure I'll be able to work something out."

"Hey," She tightened her embrace on him, scooching herself slightly closer. "I'd love to have you guys there, but I understand if you can't make it."

"...Are you sure?" He couldn't understand how she was so chill about it, but that was Jackie for you. "Man, I forget sometimes just how chill you are. I really like that about you. But I thought you'd be a little more...upset, I guess?"

"I guess I just miss hanging out with you."

Another warm smile from the boy. "Same here, Jackie." Their romantic relationship may not have worked out, but they were happy to still be a part of each other's lives, and they were looking forward to getting even closer as friends. The two of them shared a hug, a tight hug at that, one that saw Marco's cheek press against hers, a sensation that caused Marco to blush madly. But he did his best to hide it once they parted, and she was none the wiser.

The time continued to pass rather uneventfully. Star showcased herself as a more-than-competent assistant Cornball coach, impressing everyone from Buff Frog to the team to the spectators. As for Jackie & Marco, aside from an occasional conversation here and there, they remained rather quiet, taking in the sight of the Cornball practice before them. The whole time, Jackie remained physically close to Marco, alternating from having her hand close to one of his to having an arm wrapped around his shoulder. It seemed like she wasn't conscious of these actions, and Marco was in no rush to alert her of any awkwardness he may have been feeling. Because he was _definitely_ feeling some awkwardness about it. But not a bad kind of awkwardness...

Eventually the practice wrapped up and Star was dismissed for the day. She returned to her friends, all of whom greeted her with warm praise. "Kid, you looked like a natural out there."

"You were awesome!"

"You could be an awesome coach if you wanted to be!"

They were relentless in their praise, causing a red blush to form on her face. "Aww, you guys..."

"You're gonna do great in two days." Jackie assured her, walking up to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder now. "You have my best."

"...You're not going to be there?" It was obvious Star was disappointed by this development. Understandable.

"She and Chloe are entering a skating event at that new skate park that opened up earlier this summer. It's the same day as the exhibition match." Marco explained, his own voice conveying disappointment.

"Ooh, skate contest!" Star exclaimed. Any disappointment she was harboring was masked well under the guise of excitement. "Good luck, Jackie! I know either you or Chloe will win!" She returned the hug gesture with a hug of her own, one that lasted just a _liiiiiittle _bit too long.

"Thanks. I know you'll be there in spirit."

"You bet I will!"

Without another word, the group all parted & went their separate ways, with Star & Marco returning to the Butterfly castle.

* * *

Later that night, the two were crawled up underneath the blankets & watching TV on Star's small television. They hadn't spoken about the practice since it ended, but in Marco's eyes, it was becoming an invisible thorn in his side. "So..." He started awkwardly. "Looking forward to that game the day after tomorrow?"

She turned her head ever so carefully to face him. Immediately she could detect something was off about his tone. Such nerves, such uncertainty. She knew he got to sit next to Jackie while they watched her work. Did something bad happen. "Yeah, yeah, totally. It's gonna be a lot of fun. _And_ it should be good practice for later on."

"...Later on?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't told you yet. So this morning, Mom told me that there's gonna be a really cool exhibition match held at that playground we're all supposed to build once it's open."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, and they told me all of this really nice stuff, like how I'm gonna be the one that gets to deliver the game ball to the playing field. Apparently that's sort of a tradition for some Earth sports?"

"Only when it's like a really popular celebrity or athlete or something. Otherwise it's not really that big of a deal. But if you ask me...that sounds really sweet that they want to do that for you."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Is it really?"

"Well I think it is. Think about it: you'll have a few hundred people applauding you. Most of them are gonna be grateful for all the work you put in while you were a monster-Mewman ambassador. Most of them are gonna know you were basically the shadow queen for awhile, and this is their chance to say thank you. Granted I think you deserve way more than just meaningless applause but-"

"Marco..." She playfully whined, kissing him. "What did I tell you about doing that?"

He sighed; he still couldn't stop himself, no matter how hard he tried. "Not to do it?" She nodded in response. "I know, you're right. Still can't help myself, I guess."

"Marco, how big are sports arenas on Earth? Like how many people could they realistically hold?"

"Depends on the stadium. Some of them could hold as many as a hundred thousand fans."

"A hundred thou-yeah, no no no, no thank you. Nooooo thank you." She was instantly put off by that notion. "If I had that many people clapping for me at once I'd probably just straight up a nervous breakdown. Get on my knees, start wailing like a baby, the whole nine yards. I already have so many problems accepting praise from my own loved ones, but a hundred thousands complete strangers? And for no reason? Just put a diaper on me and put me in nursery school after that, I'd be completely _gone_."

Marco embraced his girlfriend & gave her a kiss. He empathized with her so greatly. "I know, baby. I know."

"At least here it's only a couple of hundred or so. And I don't even have to say anything, I just smile like an idiot and wave. Then I can focus on actually helping Katrina's team win the game."

"You're gonna do great. I just know it."

"So do I. Thanks. I...just wish Jackie was gonna be there." She said with a hint of disappointment and her face turning red. "I know she would've had fun watching the game."

"Yeah, but you know how it is. She's got that cool skating thing she and Chloe are competing in. I just know she'll clean house. Jackie's the best skater in Echo Creek. She's got all the right moves."

"Yeah...she sure does..." Star took extra note of the way Marco was talking about her. She knew something was going on. She wanted to poke his brain about it but she didn't want to push him into revealing anything he wasn't ready to reveal. Unfortunately, his growing blush - and his sudden need to lean forward, hint - made it impossible for him to avoid talking about it. And unfortunately for him, Star remained silent just long enough for him to feel compelled to break the ice again.

"...What's up?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You're the one romanticizing the hot skater girl." She playfully teased. Right off the bat, she knew she had to make him feel as comfortable as possible if she wanted him to open up to her. Even if she had been upset, she couldn't show it. Luckily for him, she truly wasn't. She was merely curious. "Marco...I'm not upset. Come on, I've spent basically the whole summer having the same kind of thoughts about Jackie. What right would I have to get mad at _you_ for the same thing?"

Sound logic. Star had not held back all summer about her growing physical/sexual attraction to Jackie. The way she saw it, she owed him at least the same courtesy. Not that it made it much easier for him to open up. "...For whatever it's worth...it's not a romantic attraction."

"It's sexual." She finished for him. "I know. I figured."

Her stern calmness utterly baffled Marco. "...you seem pretty calm about this."

"What do you mean? Do you _want_ me to be angry at you? Even if I did want to be mad, what would that solve?"

"I guess you're right. I just...feel bad about it, that's all. I-It didn't even start to come back until today, honest. I was _so_ sure I was over her, b-"

"Marco, I believe you. You don't have to convince me." She patted his shoulder and gently pecked his cheek. "Just talk to me. Whatever's on your mind about it, just put it all out there."

Communication. That was how the two of them were going to get through their issues & come out better for it. All they had to do was talk it out. Easier said than done at times, sure, but still critical for their relationship to be successful. "I don't think you're supposed to have feelings for your old ex's... even if these are just...you know-"

"Don't beat yourself up for this." Star reassured him. "Seriously. You've been super understanding & patient with me trying to work through _my_ thing for Jackie, what right would I have to be mad at you for going through the same thing?"

He nodded in agreement. "You're right. It's just...heh, I guess I finally understand the people that I would hear say 'there's a difference between love and attraction.' I crushed on her for so long. At least, I thought it was a crush. Maybe I just didn't realize it all that time ago because I was so young, but...wow, she's...she's-"

"A total babe, right?"

No trouble whatsoever, Star just came out and said it. It did a good job of breaking the ice between them and getting them to laugh. If Star was comfortable calling Jackie a babe, he had no excuse no to if that was how he felt. "...Yeah, _total_ babe." He looked over at his girlfriend, who gave him a reassuring nod, urging him to continue. "While you were busy at practice, we got to sit together. We talked some, got caught up a little...the whole time I guess I was...I guess I just forgot how hot she was, a-and what just looking at her does to me. W-We shared a hug-"

"D'aww, how sweet. She's a good hugger, right?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, she is. That's the most physical contact I've had with her since we broke up." His face began to redden with blush again.

"What was it like?" She continued urging him, hugging him briefly. "It's okay, you can say it."

He took a deep breath, preparing himself mentally. It was like he was in a therapy session. What better therapist, though, than Star to help him through this? Especially since she too was going through it. "Those feelings I had back when I was still just crushing on her...they...they came back. _And then some_." Star silently nodded along. "I spent so much time on Mewni with you that I forgot just how nice her butt is-" And he immediately covered his mouth in embarrassment. Star could only chuckle. "I'm not a pig-"

"This doesn't make you one, Marco. That's what you told me."

"Don't give me my own advice. I'd prefer to be a hypocrite, thank you very much!" That sassy response earned him another laugh from Star as well as a kiss.

"She _does_ have a really nice tush. What's that thing you Earth humans have? It's called..._puberty_?" Marco silently nodded. "Well puberty was _very_ good to that girl."

"Y-Yeah, I'd say it was. _Really_ nice..." His blush grew stronger. Even now, talking about Jackie wasn't always easy for him.

"Hey, can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer, I'm just curious..."

At least she was being considerate by warning him first? "Go ahead..."

"These sexual feelings...a-and what _we_ do...did you ever think about what that would be like with her?"

"Honestly...no, I-I didn't. I mean...before, I wasn't. When you are I were first becoming friends I still just saw her as this hot girl that I was crushing on big time. It didn't really go further than that. Or at least...if it was, I wasn't aware of it in the slightest. Maybe I just wasn't mature enough to understand where it was all going, but..."

"It might've just been subconscious. I mean, whatever you felt for her physically you ended up feeling for me. A-And I'm glad you feel that way about me, don't get me wrong. I _love_ getting to 'strut my stuff' for you and taking that plunge into making love with you was the best decision we ever made, but I just find it weird that you'd feel like that with me but _not_ with her, especially since her physical makeup is _clearly_ superior to mine."

How Star was able to ever so casually say things like that to him was a mystery he would probably never understand. She wasn't even putting herself down about it, if her tone was any indication. "D-Don't say that-"

"Oh don't give me any of that, you and I both know it's true. I'm not offended or even upset, I'm just stating facts. She's got a much bigger bubble butt than I do and she works with it way better than me. Which makes the fact that you're so enthralled by _my_ bubble butt all the more rewarding." Another kiss between the two. It was times like this that truly showed the special nature of their relationship. How it could portray itself as so complicated and yet so stupidly simple was a mark of its strength.

"Believe me, I-I am. It's...It's so much fun to look at."

"You enjoy yourself, don't you?" He sheepishly nodded. "I'm glad you do. Really. And I enjoy _myself_ when I get to stare at _your_ glorious tush."

"I still can't believe that."

"Believe it. You're drop-dead gorgeous, and don't you ever let anyone try to tell you otherwise."

"Stoooop," One more kiss between the two of them. The sparks were really flying now. At least they were until the awkward tension returned with a vengeance. "...So now what do we do? What do _I_ do?"

His girlfriend sighed warmly. "Marco, I told you this doesn't make you a bad person."

"Yeah but still...now I get why it bothered _you_ so much when it started popping up for her."

"She just has that effect on you, I swear." And then a light bulb went off in the girl's head. "Oh, wait. I've got a session tomorrow! Why don't you come with me? Maybe Cassandra can help us sort through this?"

"Not to be rude, but...don't you think she has...you know, more important things to deal with than you and I crushing on the same girl? Seems kind of petty for me to be wasting her time with something so trivial when you've got so much to work through yourself, doesn't it?" The girl sat there stone cold silent, completely unimpressed. She was through letting Marco settle for playing second-fiddle to her, even if it was for something as menial as this. "Thought it was worth a shot."

"Yeah, well, you struck out." And then the two of them devolved into hilarious, immature laughter that only they could.

* * *

True to Star's word, the following day she dragged Marco along to her session with her therapist Cassandra Cher. Cassandra was very flexible with her sessions with Star; with the former rebel princess emphasizing how important her relationships with her friends & loved ones were to her, both emotionally & spiritually, it only made sense that they be included whenever Star felt like it was necessary. Unfortunately, this was one where Star felt it was necessary for Marco to be a part of it, and it promised to be quite the uncomfortable experience whether they wanted it to be or not.

"So...let me get this straight..." Cassandra began, opening her notebook and jotting down notes. "You two are experiencing physical _and_ sexual attraction to the same girl?"

They both nodded. "Her name is Jackie Lynn Thomas." Star spoke up, quickly devolving into a fluttering lovesick fool. "The hottest thing under the sun..." But she managed to slap herself out of her trance before she got in too deep. "She's, uh...she's Marco's ex-boyfriend. Hold on," She got out her phone and pulled up a picture of Jackie in her regular outfit - including the leather jacket - to show Cassandra. "Here you go."

Cassandra studied the picture intently, alternating looks between the photo and Star's obvious blush. "I see..." She carefully handed Star her phone back. "She seems like quite the lovely person."

"She certainly is." Marco chimed in, also having a noticeable lovesick tone to his voice as Star returned to sitting next to him.

"And has...this ever happened to you two? Having an attraction to the same person at the same time?"

Star pondered for a moment. "I...don't think so?" She turned to Marco. "Hey Marco, would you happened to be attracted to my demon ex-boyfriend Tom in any way?"

He chuckled. An odd way to respond. "Oh Star, this isn't about Tom, this is about Jackie." An extremely bizarre way to answer 'no,' made even more confusing by how quickly he brushed it off and turned his attention back to Cassandra. This set Star off immediately.

"_**THAT'S NOT A NO, MARCO**__**!**"_

"So why don't you tell me a little about this Jackie girl. Your relationships with her, your history, etcetera."

The two lovebirds exchanged looks at each other. It was time to get down and dirty with this. Marco went first. "She was...she was my first crush. Came around when I was...oh gosh, I don't even remember how young I was. I'm pretty sure that by the time Star came into my life I'd been crushing on Jackie for at least half my life, if not longer. And for so many years I couldn't even say "hi" to her. Literally, it took Star pushing me to open myself up and stop doubting myself for me to actually get anywhere with her."

"You two dated, correct?"

"Yep. For...about three months, I think? It was..." He hesitantly looked over at Star, then at the ground. Was it even okay for him to be saying this?

According to Star, it was. She nudged him gently. "It's okay, Marco. Promise."

After a reassuring nod from his girlfriend, he resumed. "It...It was nice. She's a really cool person. Mellow, down to Earth, and not afraid to be silly like Star is. Plus..." Now it was his turn for his face to go red. "Guess I can't run away from it. Jackie...she's got such a gorgeous bod."

"We were just talking about it last night. Puberty did wonders for that girl." And then they broke out into quick laughter.

"Yeah..."

"But she wasn't the one that..for lack of a better phrase...awakened your sexual nature, was she?" Cassandra asked.

He had to give it some thought. He was so sure it was Star that did it for him. Wasn't it? "I'm...not sure. Maybe I was just too young to recognize it at the time. I didn't really start to realize that these feelings and thoughts were in me until Star came around."

"How did it happen? Was it one particular incident or a culmination of events?"

Again, a short moment of contemplation. "I think both? There were little things here and there. Like, short moments where my eyes would drift towards her cute tush," As Marco began to monologue, Star found herself blushing madly, proud to see her boyfriend opening up _and_ reveling in his attraction to her. "Treasuring those hugs a little more on Mewni, even as they got more and more infrequent..." And now the blushing gave way to a frown. "Oh, and then there was the cat suit thing..."

And then that frown gave way to a baffled stare. "Cat suit?"

His head shot over to hers like a dart. "Oh no, no no no _no_. Don't you tell me you forgot." Her continued silence gave it away. "You don't remember? Pony Head going to jail, you volunteering to investigate & try to clear her name...we have to go to the Dimension Of Cats With Human Faces, and we had to sneak in in disguise," He got to watch as her face slowly descended from confused to complete horror & realization. "So you made us dress up in a cat suit and I got the back end! _I_ was the butt of the suit, which means I got stuck staring at _your_ butt for an hour!"

It had sincerely slipped her mind. But having it regaled to her in this very moment sent shockwaves through her body. "Oh my co-why didn't I ever put it together before!?"

"I thought it was intentional!"

"Well it wasn't! A-And wait, you said that you didn't realize you were attracted to my tush until you were living on Mewni with me, and that was like forever after that!"

"You know what? I did say that. But maybe I was wrong! I was so busy being annoyed at Pony Head for forcing you to clean up her mess that I completely missed out on the best view I could've imagined!" And as soon as he was done with that brief spiel, he covered his mouth in embarrassment. But he slowly lowered his hands to reveal that he was on the cusp of laughter, laughter which Star joined in on. The ball of nerves was slowly unwinding, much to their benefit.

"Okay, but you know what? We have to fix that later." Star said to him as soon as the laughter died down.

"Oh no, that's okay. I...I prefer what we do now anyways over...that."

The blush that went away returned to Star's face instantly. "Really?" He nodded in response. "Well, I like it too."

"How long have you two been sexually active with each other?" Cassandra asked in intervention. "According to my notes, since..."

"Our getaway." Star finished for her. "Yeah...that was great. W-We never planned our getaway out just to have that happen. It just...did. And I'm _so_ glad it happened."

"How did it get to that point? We touched on it in an earlier session but I think it's a lot more relevant this time around..."

"Oh sure. So..." Star took in a deep breath. She was going to take the lead on this one. "So when magic briefly made its return, Marco and I had to shift our focus to dealing with that, which meant we really couldn't get our relationship going, and that sucked and all, but...he was starting to let it slip here and there that he was physically attracted to me. And when I finally asked him about it, he was _so_ afraid that I was going to be offended or mad at him for it. Poor guy, I thought he was going to cry."

"I think my jaw almost hit the floor when she told me she wasn't offended." Marco jumped in, his own blush beginning to return as well. "I-I called her Bubble Butt and not only was she not offended, she _reveled_ in it. Heck, she even modeled a new bathing suit for me, I-I never even asked her to do that."

"It's too bad that bathing suit got ruined, though. Stupid hot tub..." Star lamented before quickly perking up. "Although, if it hadn't gotten ruined...we might not have gone down the path we did." She turned back to Cassandra. "After that happened we had ourselves a nice kissing session in our hotel room. It was...probably the best one we had had at that point."

"I saw her bare tush in the hot tub by accident, and then I got to squeeze it on purpose, and it was absolutely amazing!" Marco blurted out about as awkwardly as one could.

"Even when he's passionate and lost in the moment, he's still so gentle with me. And so considerate." And now came the big one. "After that we kinda just kept getting more intimate with each other until finally...we decide it was time to find out if we really wanted to be _intimate_ with each other."

"And you went to a seminar, correct? On the human body?" Cassandra asked.

Star and Marco both nodded. "It pretty much reinforced that it was something we wanted to find out, and...we did. That afternoon, after the seminar, we...had our first round..."

"You two were each other's first, right?"

"Yes we were. And it was _the_ most wonderful experience I'd ever had. Marco was gentle and passionate the entire time. It felt like I was floating on thin air." Her wonderful reminiscing was soon replaced by a disappointed groan & arm cross. "I'm still mad at myself, though."

"How come?"

"Well I told you the last time we talked about it, I fell asleep and it ended early."

"You should've seen me, I was _petrified_." Marco reinforced. "I was so into and having such a good time that...to this day I still don't know if I did something wrong. I mean I stopped and ended it as soon as I heard her snoring. That's how I knew she fell asleep."

"My nighttime snoring sexually arouses him big time, and I _still_ don't get it." More laughter from them. She never shied away from an opportunity to tease him about that, but it still remained out of love.

"But yeah, I was...I was pretty scared I screwed it up with her. I-I took all the stuff they said about consent very seriously."

"And I respect the heck out of him for that, but it wasn't like I wasn't into it myself."

"I was kinda worried for a hot minute that I was just boring her a-"

"Uh-uh." She didn't even let him finish his thought this time. "You kidding? You're _wonderful_. The way I see it, you just know how to relax me and make me feel safe & comfortable & willing to let my walls down. Besides, you and I both know now that me falling asleep has a lot more to do with my extreme exhaustion and stress, so it's not your fault in any way."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know. But still..."

"Do you still...end your sessions prematurely?" Cassandra inquired.

"Um...yeah...sometimes..." Star admitted, rubbing her arm in discomfort. "After that one time on our getaway it didn't happen again for the rest of the trip."

"We were even able to get some pretty impressive personal bests out of that, weren't we?"

"Oh yeah! Our current personal best is 7 1/2 hours! And that's straight through, no stops in between! It's great!" The two of them high fived, which actually managed to get a chuckle out of Cassandra, which in turn sent both lovebirds into their own hysterical laughing fits. "But actually, me falling asleep in the middle of our escapades...it started happening pretty frequently once we came back home. And I still feel _awful_ about it. Marco's _super_ considerate of me and patient about it and I love him for that, but I can't help but feel terrible because I keep depriving him of his fun. I bet Jackie wouldn't do that to him..."

Marco patted his girlfriend's shoulder before turning back to Cassandra. "She keeps asking me to "keep going" every time she falls asleep. I-I know she means well and she thinks she's doing me a favor, but..."

"Marco..." Her smile was so sincere and sweet. "You gotta stop worrying about that. How is it an issue of consent if _I'm_ the one that keeps asking you to do it?"

"But what if something went wrong? What if I accidentally moved the wrong way and I hurt you? I'd _never_ forgive myself."

"You know..." Cassandra intervened. "There _is_ a name for what you _might_ be experiencing, hon. It's known as "sexsomnia," it's when your body engages in sexual activity while in non-REM sleep, only you seem to have it in reverse..."

"See, Marco?" Star nudged his arm. "It's not your fault. _You're_ not doing anything wrong. If anything, you'd be doing me a favor." He knew she was trying to be helpful. He knew she was trying to be considerate. And yet he couldn't get out of his own way. "You know...I'm pretty sure Jackie wouldn't have nearly as many problems as I do."

"Don't do that, sweetheart." He kissed her gently; it always lifted her spirits no matter how beaten they were.

"Marco..." Cassandra interrupted again. "Do you...regret not having a physically intimate relationship with this Jackie girl?"

The boy looked down at the floor and remained quiet, lost in contemplation. He was completely happy with his physical & emotional relationship with Star. This new hiccup around Jackie wasn't going to change that. Still, the "what might have been" game was a tempting one to play. "I...I don't think so." He turned to Star, flashing a huge smile on his face. "I'm so happy with what I have with Star. We connect so easily when we're both right. It's a feeling that I wouldn't want to trade for anything in the world." Star leaned in and kissed Marco passionately.

"That's so sweet, you lug. But, still...don't tell me it isn't crossing your mind just a little..."

No matter how much the truth stung, he had to be honest. "...all I know for sure is...is that I definitely need to talk to her about it." She nodded in agreement. "A-And I think you do too."

Her smile quickly went away, as she looked away in embarrassment, red face and all. "Y-Yeah I think you're right. But I think I have so many more things I need to work through first, things that are really screwing me up worse than just a crush. I'll...I'll talk to her when I'm ready. I just...don't feel ready yet."

Cassandra checked her watch: they were out of time. "Hold that thought, we're out of time." She, Marco, and Star stood up from their seats. "We can pick this up next time."

"Man, it feels like these sessions are getting shorter and shorter." Star commented, her and Marco heading towards the door. "Thank you, Ms. Cher! See you next time!"

* * *

Nighttime fell, and Star & Marco were already under the blankets, preparing themselves for nature to take its course. Tomorrow was a big day...and as they would soon learn, it would be a big day for both of them. "Hey, honey..." Star spoke up, kissing Marco's cheek gently.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Can I ask you something?"

He hesitated briefly, but agreed. "S-Sure."

She looked into his sparkling eyes with her own, a beautiful smile crossing her face. "Do you...Do you want to go watch Jackie at the skate park tomorrow?"

His eyes jolted open. Seemingly a random question to be asking at that moment. Then again, this was Star. She didn't usually follow the straight path of logic. "Uh...n-no, that's okay. I'd love to be there at the cornball game to support you."

"Yeah I know that, but, like...we both know you feel like you have some unfinished business with her, so...maybe tomorrow's the perfect opportunity to hash it out with her?"

"B-But-"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll be so focused on the game that I probably won't even notice you not there anyway. But I know you'll be there in spirit for me."

He nodded, a smile now crossing his face as well. "You bet I will." He sighed; he knew that he was going to have to have his own confrontation with Jackie eventually. He was right there on the edge, might as well take the leap of faith. "Just promise me you'll kick their butts tomorrow."

"Oh we sure will! We've got Katrina on the team, she's unstoppable!"

"And you've got the best assistant coach on the team." He was referring to Star. "You'll be doubly unstoppable!" The two shared themselves a hearty laugh before getting lost in a passionate kiss with each other. Their bond was stronger than ever. "Speaking of which...would the princess allow her former squire to claim hers?"

"My bubble butt is all yours, Mr. Diaz." She was about to pull him in for them to get started, but stopped just before it happened. "Oh, and Marco...?"

She didn't need to complete her question for him to pick up on it. And it wasn't a question he was thrilled to hear. "Star..."

"Come on, Marco, when are you going to let down your walls and let yourself have all the fun?"

"Why are you so insistent on making me take advantage of you like that?!"

A quiet, confused look emanated from the girl. "You're not taking advantage of me. Or at least _I_ don't see it like that, and frankly, my opinion on our experiences is the only one that should matter to you. If I'm urging you to enjoy yourself and finish on your end, don't you think you should at least give it some thought?"

She was not going to let this go. She looked for any - _any_ \- way for her to do nice things for him while she was recovering from the neurotic, broken down mess that she had become. To her, this was just something she could do to prove her love for him, even if they were a tad misguided. The boy sighed but softly smiled. "I'll...think about it."

"That's at least a start. Now...take me away, Mr. Diaz."

"Hold on tight, Ms. Butterfly."

And the two locked lips, setting off on another magical, beautiful escapade that intertwined them in a death grip of beauty. There was no stopping their momentum, no matter how many things were thrown up to block them. They were in it for the long haul, through thick and thin.

* * *

**End of Episode 14!**

**So...announcement! I've found myself a freelance gig. I'm working as a video editor for a new YouTube Channel. The demand is a bit rigirous and it requires quick turnaround times, which means less time for me to focus on my fanfics. But I have no intentions of stopping anytime soon :)  
**

**Also, yes, I'm making this a two-parter. It originally didn't start out as one, but as I was writing it, I realized the direction I wanted this particular episode to go in and it just spiraled and it got to the point where it no longer worked as a one-shot. So, here's part one of a two-parter. When will part two be out? I have no idea and I'm not interested in putting a timetable on it thanks to my freelance work. Hopefully not too long from now.**

**And as always, please read & review! :D**


	15. Double Laced Butterfly (Part 2)

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 15: Double-Laced Butterfly (Part 2)**

**Episode Summary: Marco's journey for closure with Jackie brings him to places he wasn't sure if he could go. Meanwhile, Star's big test of coaching abilities _and_ emotional endurance begins.**

**Original Release Date: April 29, 2020**

* * *

**A/N: Given how the writing for this turned out, it's obvious that what's mentioned here is going to sort of retcon some things mentioned in "Beautiful Christmas," a story that's supposed to take place six months after the start of this fanfic. I suppose that's what I get for writing a time skip story before I even finish the sequel to my original post-finale fic. XD**

* * *

The sun rose gently and shined unto the Earthni surface the following morning, glistening it with a _gorgeous,_ shimmering light. Star & Marco were still snuggled tightly together, encased in a a beautiful, loving embrace that would melt even the coldest lands. The boy was the first to rise, slowly opening his eyes and gazing at the beautiful girl laying before her. Her mere presence elicited a smile and a soft chuckle him; her snoring, the stream of drool going from the corner of her mouth to the puddle formed on the pillow, her glowing skin...he was positively enthralled. His sexual needs didn't make any more sense to him now than they did when they first started to hash it out, but he no longer cared. If Star loved him for that, then so did he.

He leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips. As careful as he was, it was still enough to wake the girl up from her slumber and allow him to join in the kiss. "Hey," She said softly, beaming at the smiling face looking back at her.

"Hi," He responded before kissing her again. She remained quietly starring at him for a moment, huge grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

"...Thank you...for last night..." She finally said after the prolonged silence. Once again, he knew exactly what she was referring to. At the very least, her warm smile made it much easier for him to stomach. She gently kissed her gentleman. "You were wonderful."

"You mean you knew what was happening? E-Even though you were asleep?"

She nodded gently. "Yeah, I did."

"And I didn't hurt you in any way?"

"Nope. I told you, you know how to relax me. That was the most relaxed I've ever been."

"Well, I'm glad." He gently caressed her face. How soft her skin was. How shiny it gleamed.

"And you? Were your needs satisfied?" She shot a flirtatious smile his way. Sure, Marco wasn't always proud of his...sexual needs. But she never thought bad of any of it. It was made him her Marco. Any teasing she did of him was always out of love, and nothing was going to change that.

"...Yeah...although with you, I'm never really "satisfied," because I _always_ want more."

"I know the feeling." Another kiss, this time coupled with a gentle but firm squeeze of the boy's rear end.

"You haven't taken your hand off my tush since last night, you know."

"Well what do you want me to say? It's relaxing. It's like squeezing a stress ball."

A moment of silence from Marco, pondering the metaphor and ultimately agreeing with it. "Yeah...that sounds about right." He responded with a flirtatious wink, imitating her gesture and squeezing her rear end. "Hey...we still have a lot of time before we gotta get moving. You think you'd be up for a round? Or...five?" His face turned a dark shade of red, drawing a wide smile from her and a laugh.

"Only five?" She brought herself even closer to him & again locked lips. "Come on, I think we can do better than that."

It wasn't like he needed any extra prodding. "Oh we _totally_ can." And you can infer the rest.

* * *

Eventually it _was_ time to arise and begin the day. They showered & dressed, their minds racing with contemplation; Star had her big game today & had no intention of letting Katrina's Cornball team down, while Marco was off to support Jackie and her skating competition...and potentially get off his chest some lingering baggage. "You sure you're good to go?" He asked his girlfriend as they departed the castle, taking note of the booklet in her hands.

"Totally." She responded without hesitation. "I got the playbook, I got my brain, I got the will to win, I got-" She was interrupted by the sound of her stomach rumbling. "-a slight case of indigestion. Greeeeeeat..."

"Just don't think about it and you'll be fine."

She nodded and pecked his cheek. "Thanks. And what about you? You ready?"

The boy silently gave it some thought. _Was_ he ready for this? Surely it couldn't be that bad. This was _Jackie_ they were talking about. The last time they had an extended conversation they seemed to leave off on good terms, but maybe she was being overly nice to him? "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

"Just breathe, Diaz. It's _Jackie_. She's cool!" Star urged him proudly. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, there was _something_ there for her, just like Star had something for her. He was gonna have to deal with it sooner or later. "Whatever happens...just be honest. Just be _you_. That's all you can do. She wouldn't want it any other way."

He slowly nodded and smiled, agreeing with her logic. "You're right. It's just Jackie..."

"You got this, Marco. I believe in you."

"And _I_ believe in _you_." The two lovebirds shared one more kiss before going their separate ways. It was unfortunate for them that today was the day they had to venture off on their own, but they promised themselves that come the end of the day, they would come out even better than they were before.

Star made her way to the field where the game was to be held, meeting up with the team. She was greeted by the team, Katrina & Buff Frog leading the charge. "Star!"

"Hi guys!" She greeted them all with a hug. "You ready to kick some butt!?" She was met with a very loud, synced cheer. "Alright! Go get yourselves ready! Do some stretches or something." They all scattered back to their bench, taking the time to warm themselves up in preparation of the impending game. This left Buff Frog & Star to themselves. "So, you excited to see your daughter in action?"

"Of course! I am proud sport father!" He declared loudly. "I am like those loud buffoonery human men that vicariously live through their offspring!"

She curiously raised an eyebrow. "...I don't think that's necessarily something you want to gloat about."

"Oh calm, young Butterfly. My love for children not tied to sport success. Am just delighted to take part in creation of new Cornball!"

"Yeah, this is g-wait time out. Time out. "Creation of new Cornball," what the heck are you talking about?"

He looked down at her like she had three heads, all of them melting. "You not know? This is not mere exhibition game. It is trial run."

"Trial run?"

"Yes, for new iteration. Old rules for game were extremely convoluted & confusing." He directed her attention towards a spot adjacent to the bench Katrina's team was gathered around. Adjacent there was a spot where a campfire was burning. This campfire had been produced by burning several dozen books that were meant to explain the old rules of Cornball. Sitting around said campfire were Tom, Janna, and Kelly, the latter of whom was a guest of Tom's, having used one of their Dimensional Laser Guns earlier in the day to invite Kelly to the game. All three were snacking on roasted marshmallows.

"Hi Star!" Kelly shouted, waving joyously in her direction before taking another bite of her marshmallow. Star waved nervously towards her before turning back to Buff Frog.

"Those books were eye sore. Rules were far too complicated & head-hurting. New rules will be simpler, easier to understand."

Talk about a curveball being thrown her way. "...okay, so let me get this straight. Earlier this summer you guys held a Cornball practice that I attended with the _original_ rules in place. Now, with the season-opening exhibition match just a few weeks away, the Cornball league is scrambling to simplify the rules using this **_one_**practice as their testing ground? And when were you people going to tell _me_ about it?"

"Apologies. Communication has been blind spot for all involved in process."

"That seems to be a common theme surrounding everything affected by the Cleaving." She loudly sighed and momentarily buried her head into her hands. It was going to be one of _those_ days, wasn't it? "Okay, so...where do we start?"

"Um, excuse me!?" One of the players from the opposing practice team raised their hand and got Star's & Buff Frog's attention. "I have a question! So like...are we allowed to, like, kill our opponents or what?"

And it was starting already. "I'm going to hate today, aren't I?" Star asked rhetorically to Buff Frog, who responded with a weak shrug & sigh.

* * *

On the other side, the skating competition was well under way. Marco was in a front row seat and had the best view of the action. The bleachers were filled with either bystanders who wanted to watch, or skaters who had already taken their turn. This meant that Chloe, Jackie's girlfriend, was among the people in the audience. They had the best view of anyone to watch Jackie Lynn Thomas shred the competition, just like they all expected she would. Chloe might've had talent on the board, but even she would tell you she was no match for Jackie's skills.

She finally finished her run and was greeted with rousing applause from the fans in the bleachers, Chloe & Marco included. Once she was cleared to leave, she made her way to the bleachers & greeted the two of them.

"_That_ was amazing!" Marco blurted out. "Where'd you learn half of those moves?"

"Self-taught." Chloe explained. "Nobody knows how to invent a trick better than her."

"Best rule of life that Chloe taught me: sometimes there's no rules in life, so just make your own." Jackie responded, chuckling as she took a seat in between Chloe & Marco. "Thank for coming out, dude. Means a lot."

"Oh, uh, i-it was no trouble." He stumbled, trying and failing to hide his sudden blush. "Star sends her love, she knows you two are gonna win. What's the prize anyway?"

"Okay, so get this. The top _two_ finishers get an exclusive modeling contract for a new brand of skateboards. It's called the ProMaxis, it's supposed to be the latest trend in durable, hard-hitting skateboards. Not only that, but they'll be gifted an exclusive set of boards for their own collection. They're not even hitting the shelves until next year!"

"Whoa-ho, now _that's_ a neat prize! You two gonna show off those kicks when you win?"

"_If_ we win. Still a long day ahead." Chloe corrected him. Marco scoffed.

"Please, nobody can measure up to you two. You've got that prize under lock and key already!"

Jackie leaned over to her girlfriend, whispering. "Told you he was a gentleman." Unfortunately she was still loud enough for Marco to hear, and the compliment caused his face to go an even darker shade of red. Even a nervous laugh and look-away couldn't stop Jackie from taking note of it. The last thing he wanted to be was nervous around her, today of all days, but unfortunately he couldn't stop it from happening. If Jackie was off-put by it, however, she wasn't showing it. "Hey, you know, we don't _have_ to stick around. We already had our runs, we can bail at any time. The winners won't be announced until tomorrow."

"A-Are you sure?" Marco was figuring out on the fly how he wanted to handle this. "I-I don't mind staying for you guys."

"Actually, I should go. I want to keep working on this new trick I taught myself." Chloe answered, grabbing her board and preparing to leave.

"Aw, no, y-you don't have to leave. Don't leave because of me, I mean-"

"Oh it's not you, dude. Chloe's kind of on a competition frenzy right now. She's got two coming up in the next town over tomorrow, and then one in San Diego next week."

"Hoo boy, that's a lot of skating!" Marco remarked nervously. Chloe shrugged.

"You have to be...how do you Americans say it? "In it to win it?" She gave Jackie a goodbye kiss and then set off.

"Good luck!" Jackie waved her off, blowing another kiss her way before turning back to Marco. "Sup."

An uncomfortable moment of silence from the boy. "Hey."

"You wanna go take a walk or something? It's a gorgeous day and we really don't need to be here anymore."

"Oh, uh...s-sure, that sounds nice." He nervously but happily agreed, so Jackie grabbed her board & set off out of the park with Marco.

* * *

Their walk took them to a park bench quite a bit away from where they left. There were very few people around, meaning they essentially had the bench and the area to themselves. That was awkward enough for Marco. Add in the fact that the bench wasn't very big, with meant they had to sit _pretty_ close to each other lest one of them sat on the ground, and it was like ten additional layers of awkward were added. "So how're things with Star?" Jackie asked right away. "She...doin' okay?"

That wording could've meant anything. Was she doing okay in regards to her own attraction to Jackie? Was she doing okay in regards to the mental anguish that she was fighting so hard not to let consume her during the summer? Was she doing okay after suffering a concussion the last time Star spent extended time with her? "Uh, s-she...she's doing fine, I guess. You know, hangin' in there, I guess." And of course Marco gave the most Marco non-answer he could.

"How about you? How're you holding up, ya big lug?" She gently ruffled his hair, hoping to stir a laugh out of him. And it worked.

"Oh, you know...same, just trying to chug along." If there's one thing Marco still hadn't learned by now, it's that he couldn't get one over on Jackie, no matter how hard he tried.

"Dude, you gotta relax. It's just me."

"Yeah..." He tried to feign a laugh, but it wasn't meant to be. "That's...that's the problem..."

As Jackie suspected. She was well aware of Star's growing physical & sexual attraction to her, coming with the territory of discovering her bisexuality. She wasn't certain about Marco, however. She made the assumption that he had gotten completely over her ever since hooking up with Star. Heck, it was an assumption Marco himself had made. And they were both wrong. "Aww, Marco..." But somewhere inside of her, she was actually quite flattered that he was still attracted to her.

"I'm not proud of it, okay?!" He quickly sputtered out before turning away in shame. He considered it a cardinal sin for him to be having any sort of feelings for Jackie - or anyone else for that matter - while he was committed to Star. Sure, perhaps it was to an extent. But ask him, and he'd tell you he had no interest in actually leaving Star to return to her. "I'm not proud of the fact that I still see you as physically attractive." He said before burying his head in his hands. He was truly ashamed of himself, a feeling that Jackie didn't agree with at all as she would soon demonstrate. She brought herself in even closer to him & embraced him, her cheek squishing against his. Her gesture brought him temporarily out of his funk, revealing that his face had gone a completely dark shade of red.

"Hey...you're not doing anything wrong." She assured him, smiling warmly. "It's...okay that you still feel that way about me."

"...It is?" He asked; she responded with a quiet nod, getting him to chuckle nervously. "I-I think I understand what Star means when she talks about how she feels about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...she says stuff like 'she knows her feelings for you are only physical.' She...she doesn't want a _relationship_, at least...at least not a romantic one. She just thinks you're super hot..._I_...think you're super hot. Not for nothing, but I almost kind of agree with Star, maybe _you_ should've been the one to trademark Bubble Butt." And as quickly as he blurted that out, he covered his mouth in shame.

It was one thing to talk like this with Star, someone he's had almost 2 years of time to get to know and grow close to, someone he was dating, having a sexually active relationship with, _and_ had plans to marry. But it was completely different with Jackie. Despite having "known" Jackie for over a decade, he didn't know nearly as much about her as he did Star, and he wasn't nearly as comfortable with her as she was with Star. Why was that so? Was it because Marco was actually _friends_ with Star first before any romantic attraction came about? Was Jackie just too hot for him to handle? Was it a combination of both? For crying out loud, it took him years - literally _years_ \- just to be able to say "hi" to her.

Jackie noticed his obvious plight and brought him in for another hug. "Hey, hey...you don't have to be like that."

"No, this isn't right. I'm not..." He loudly groaned and facepalmed. "For years I thought that my crush on you meant that I liked you, I mean the _real_ you, the things that make you Jackie. But...I guess that wasn't true. The truth is I don't really _know_ you as well as I want to, I just saw you as a pretty face and a hot body. A _really_ pretty face & hot body, but that was it. I guess Star was right, puberty was _extremely_ good to you."

This was actually the most honest Marco had ever been about his feelings for Jackie, and the more he talked, the more it made sense to him..._and_ to her. Marco wanted to like Jackie. Very badly. He wanted to have her in his life as a good friend. But in order to get there, he needed to be honest with her _and_ himself about his true feelings for her. Lying about it was only going to hurt him. "I'm sure you're gonna hate me for this, but..."

She patted his shoulders encouragingly. "It's cool, just go for it."

Like Star, Jackie just had a way of making him feel better about himself. "I've...stared at your butt...a lot. Both before we were dating a-and then _while_ we were dating."

Her eyes opened slightly; she appeared surprise. "Oh, really? I...never noticed." She lied. And she wasn't even being subtle about her statement being a lie, but Marco was too caught up in his own head to notice. The truth of the matter was that Jackie _did_ notice. She noticed every time his eyes wandered _and_ every time he tried to cover himself. But she never called him out on it. It was sweet, in her head, that he noticed her like that. She figured Star felt the same way when it happened with her. And while Jackie had always considered herself to be someone who was attractive, she couldn't in her wildest dreams ever think that someone would look at her like this, let alone two people - both Marco _and_ Star.

"I don't even know what else to say. Jackie, you're...you're insanely attractive. You've got amazing curves, a beautiful body, a gorgeous butt, pretty face, and..." It was time for Marco to devolve into almost incomprehensible rambling. Almost. "I-I love your freckles. I know that's a weird thing b-but I love them. They just...they make your face feel full & complete & beautiful a-and I-I _love_ how your butt fills those jean shorts you always wear. I-It just looks absolutely breathtaking, and the more I think about how hot you are the more I ask myself "How did a skinny, scrawny dork like me get the coolest, sexiest girl in our high school to ever go out with me!?"

Once he was done he buried his head in his hands and sat silently, which allowed for the weight of his words to sink in for Jackie. The two of them may not have been together, but she was still incredibly flattered. The poor boy thought she would think lowly of him for looking at her in this light. _Especially_ since Jackie had a girlfriend. While that may or may not be an issue going forward, it was mitigated by Marco's insistence that he wasn't looking for Jackie to "take him back." He just wanted to clear the air between them.

She responded in kind by embracing him yet again and then planting a gentle kiss on his cheek. He was always a sweetheart to everyone. "Hey, look at me." She gently rubbed his shoulder until he found the courage to look her right in the eye. "It's okay."

"It...it is?"

She nodded. "I had _no_ idea you had these kinds of feelings for me."

He shrugged. "Well, to be honest...neither did I...until recently, I mean."

"What do you mean? What...made them come out?"

He didn't want to get into specifics. He didn't think it was his business to divulge said specifics, but it was also the only real explanation he had. "Star and I are...I don't have to say it, do I?'

"Nope."

"Okay. But, you know, it just got me thinking. It's made me think about...you know, what it would've been like if it were you instead of Star, a-and _we_ were..."

She didn't need him to get into the specifics for her to catch on. Safe to say, that wasn't the answer she was expecting to hear. "Oh, I see..."

He looked away and began unconsciously scratching his head in discomfort, mimicking Star's nervous arm-rubbing tick. "Sorry..."

"No no, it's okay! You're fine." Despite the awkward nature of his admission, it was touching to her that something like that had even crossed his mind.

"It's just that the more thought I've given this, the more I realize...well, I think the reason it's worked so well with Star and why I'm just so comfortable with her is...I got to be _friends_ with her first. Okay, s-sure I felt something for her when we first met, s-she was really cute and I kinda dug the idea of a princess and stuff, but I was able to talk to her like we were buds without it being weird. I never really had that with you. I got to be your boyfriend, and that was amazing. But I never got to be your _friend_. And I'd like to rectify that."

Jackie did what Jackie did best; she chuckled lovingly, overcome with such a mixture of positive emotions that she barely knew where to begin. "Oh Marco...you are _such_ a dork. Did you just make that long-winded speech just to ask me if we could be friends?"

Marco was left stammering momentarily. "Oh come on, Jackie! Don't do that. That was rally hard for me-"

But of course it was all in good fun, proven when she yet again embraced the boy. "Do you feel better?" He nodded carefully, the weight on his shoulders slowly dissipating. "I'm glad."

"So you're...not weirded out by anything I've said here?"

And now a head shake. "I know it's all coming from a good place. I know what it's like to be conflicted about your...sexual feelings."

"You do? Wait, have you and Chloe...?"

A sly smile slowly started to come on to Jackie's face. "Okay, not nearly as much as you and Star, but..." And she finished her response with a silent nod. Marco felt an overwhelming sense of pride consume him.

"Wow, congratulations!"

"Thank you!" Now it was Jackie's turn to have her face go red. "It was so nice."

"You're lucky."

"Hey, so are you, dude. Star's a great catch."

"Yeah, but so are you." As soon as he finished saying that, his eyes popped wide open. _Don't screw it up, Diaz_! He thought to himself. But he needn't worry. Jackie took it as a compliment.

"Aww, thanks, Diaz."

"I hope Chloe knows what she's got in you and doesn't take you for granted."

"Don't worry about her. She's great. She has _her_ fun and I have _mine_ but at the end of the day we're happy together." Jackie had herself a firm smile on her face, but she was taken aback by Marco's confused stare.

"...what does that mean?"

"Oh my gosh, tell me you're kidding." Nope, he wasn't, prompting yet another laugh from her. "Tell you what: Why don't we blow this park and go to the arcade, and I'll let you in on a little secret of ours." She stood up & grabbed her board, extending her hand as an invitation, which Marco gladly accepted.

"Sure. That sounds awesome!" He helped himself up, wrapped an arm around Jackie's shoulder, and followed her as they headed to the arcade. "So...about that secret...?"

"Oh, right. So, Marco, do you happen to know what the phrase "Friends With Benefits" means?"

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, the convoluted & unnecessarily confusing "exhibition match" of Cornball was well under way. What was originally intended to be a straight forward casual game turned into a cadre of absolute madness, shifting at the 11th hour into a trial run of new rules for the intended Cornball season. The original rules were beyond incomprehensible, even to anyone that's studied the game long term. So the rules were scrapped of reworking the game from the ground. Considering it was a new world and all of Mewni's past was essentially erased, it made sense to treat this as a completely new sport. Unfortunately, the prospect of actually testing out new rules was proving to be quite exhausting.

"No no no!" Star exclaimed, racing over to one part of the field, confronting two of her own team and two of the opposite team. "This is all wrong!"

"But she has to kick it like that." One of the opposing coaches - a Mewman - protested. "If you carry the cornball through the fiery ring with one hand, you kick the ball into the goal zone with your left leg. If you carry it by mouth, you kick it with your right leg! Anything else and you have to head butt it in!"

"Who's the moron that came up with _that_ rule!?"

"How should I know? That's just how it is!"

"Well it's a stupid rule. You wanna simply the game? Fine, let's start here."

"No, you can't start here! You're gonna ruin the sanctity of the game!" The loud rumbling of this coach's voice drew the attention of Tom, Janna, and Kelly from the sidelines; they traversed and gravitated towards Star.

"You can't preserve the game while changing the complicated aspects of it! Either you want it preserved, or you want it simplified! You can't have both!"

"What would _you_ know about that?" One of the other opposing coaches - also a Mewman - blurted out angrily. "You have no room to talk about "preserving the sanctity of anything! Or do you expect us to forget that _you're_ the one that's put us here in the first place!"

Again with the cheap shot. It prompted Tom to step forward with an angry glare emanating from his face. "Not cool, man! That's a cheap shot!"

"Well it's true!"

"Why don't you just lay off her?" Kelly interjected as well. "It doesn't even have anything to do with Cornball!"

"She's right." One of the other opposing coaches spoke up. "There's no reason to be doing this here and now."

"Stay out of this! She knows what she did!" The second opposing coach was not having it. But while they were bickering, the two players for Star's team took the Cornball all the way over to the goal zone and hesitantly spiked it into the ground. Did they score? Was that a penalty? Nobody had any idea.

"Uh...score?" One of the said in such a nervous manner that one would think they were about to start crying.

Star contemplated the events that just unfolded in front of her. The poor girl was so confused and this wasn't even a regular Cornball game. "Um...I don't think that's right..."

"Well I don't see anyone else doing anything!" That same player said in a bout of frustration. Star herself responded with a loud groan and by turning herself around. A brief moment looking away from the field was bound to do her good, especially with Katrina & Buff Frog approaching her. "This is going _greeeaaat_." She said with an exaggerated eyeroll.

"I disagree, young Butterfly. Process going very poorly."

"...Sarcasm, Dad." Katrina corrected him with an arm nudge. Buff Frog did not understand sarcasm.

"Oh, of course."

"I just don't understand. So these people were the ones that complained about the rules of Cornball being overly convoluted-"

"**_WHICH THEY ARE_**!" Kelly shouted in agreement.

"-but then they're resistant to even the _tiniest_ change to the game's structure. It's like they want to have their cake and eat it too. Which doesn't even make sense as a metaphor..."

"Mewman culture has been condition to resist change for longest time. Led to believe that admitting viewpoint may be wrong is sign of weakness."

"It's why so many refused to accept Queen Eclipsa when you gave the throne back to her." Katrina added. "Their minds were shaped to believe in one line of thinking, and the revelations that came out shook everything up in a way that they were just were not up to dealing with. I think that's why a lot of them have..._mixed_ feelings for you. Some of them blamed you for..."

"Ruining everything?"

Katrina nodded calmly. "_Us_ monsters are grateful for everything you've tried to do for us. But...it really shouldn't have been a surprise how many of your people willfully gave themselves over to Mina. Not to mention your mother..."

Star groaned. "Okay, yeah, point taken. We..._really_ don't need to go into that right now." She still needed to deal with the demons surrounding her mother. And she wasn't ready. Not yet. "But I guess I get it. Their ancient ways of thinking really have infected a lot of old Mewni traditions, and their refusal to change even one iota of these traditions is just a reflection of how they can't admit that maybe, just maybe, their old ways of thinking were wrong. But you know what? They're just gonna have to get over that. It's not like Earth humans have this proble-" Exaggerated coughs by Janna put an abrupt end to Star's spiel. It was her way of letting her know that she was wrong. "...really?"

"Yeah, don't give us _that_ much credit, kid." Janna responded. "We're just as bad at it as your people are. Just look at our elected officials."

"You mean at the state level or federal?"

"Yes."

"...ohhh." Star turned back to Buff Frog. "So what should I do? If their hostility towards any changes to the game is more about their hostility towards _me_, then...maybe I should just leave."

"Please don't." Katrina begged. "We don't want you to go."

"I agree! Do not let bigoted, pig-headed people deter you. Your presence here is most welcome."

"Did I hear her say she was leaving!?" One of the opposing Mewman coaches blurted out, blatant in his joy. "Alright! Now we can actually Make Cornball Great Again!" The coach turned to his players, almost none of them happy about the idea of Star leaving. The rage dwelling inside of the girl began to bubble, and with it came a huge sharp pain in her heart. She did her best to hide it but the wincing on her face made it obvious she was in pain. "Alright, kids. All that stuff about the rules changing? Not gonna happen! So get back in formation and let's run some plays."

But none of them moved. They all looked at each other, then at Star, whose down-trodden frown infuriated them. One of them started shaking her head rapidly. "No!" She yelled. "That's not right."

"Excuse me!?"

"Why are you picking on Star? She hasn't _done_ anything wrong."

"Not since the who world-merging thing, maybe. But if she's willing to do _that_, there's no telling what she's capable of ruining!"

"_Always gotta go for the low blows..."_ Star whispered to herself, prompting Tom to approach her & console her.

"But the rules for Cornball are confusing as all get out!"

"No they're not. You guys just aren't getting it!" Classic. Blame the players. That'll go over well.

"To be fair, you have to be quite the intellectual to understand Cornball." One of the other coaches smugly said towards the players. This was not going over well with anyone, most especially Star.

"You know what?" She took a deep breath. There were no tears. There was no rage. There was no fury. Only disappointment. "I'm gonna go."

"Star-"

"No, Butt Frog. No. I'm leaving. I'm clearly not wanted here by the people who claim to be the adults."

"Hey, there you go! Finally, the last horse crosses the finish line!" The Mewman coaches were absolutely delighted, but the delight didn't last long. Every single player on the opposing team - both on the field and on the bench - simultaneously started walking over to Star. They were joined by the players on Star's side as well. "Wait w-where do you think _you're_ going!?"

"With Star." One of the players - a younger Mewman - said angrily.

"Pfft, you can't. We forbid it." As if that was going to work.

"Too bad. We're still doing it."

"Excuse me!? You don't speak to us like that!"

The team all turned to the coaches and crossed their arms angrily. They were beyond _done_ with their crap. "Then you don't get to speak to _Star_ like that."

"W-"

"Up-bup-bup. _Our _turn." One of them stepped forward and glared at them with daggers. If looks could kill, all of the opposing coaches would be bleeding internally right about now. "I think it's pretty sad you're using something as trivial as _Cornball_ to throw the Cleaving in Star's face like that. And it's pretty funny how you drone on and on about personal accountability when every single _one_ of you was responsible for joining Mina's ranks to try and eradicate the Monster race!"

A confused gasped came from Star's mouth, but indeed, it was true. Every single one of the Mewman coaches on the opposing team were in fact part of Mina's last-resort Solarian army, the army that pushed Star to the brink where she made the choice to destroy the magic. And apparently they resented her for this? Why hadn't they been locked up for their actions? That was really a question Star had to start asking herself.

"Star's not perfect and has made a lot of mistakes, sure!"

Janna wanted to speak up in objection, but Star stopped her silently. The little ones weren't wrong, after all.

"But she's still trying! Trying to do right by _everyone_, not just her own people. If you have a problem with that, then you have a problem with _us_."

"Oh, is that right!? Well just what are you going to do about it!?"

"We could make our own Cornball League!" Katrina blurted out unconsciously. But that wasn't the most surprising development.

"I second that!" Buff Frog endorsing said idea was the most surprising development, indicated by Star's jaw nearly hitting the ground.

"...W-What's happening?" She asked nervously.

"You?! Make your own Cornball League? One that'll rival _the_ Cornball League!? Ha! Good luck!" One of the coached yelled smugly. "You have no chance!"

"Oh no?!" With every word that came out of their smug mouths, Star could feel her confidence & self-esteem growing. "If this is the game, no pun intended, that you want to play with us, then we'll play. And you'd be fools to bet against us!"

"Is true! Star Butterfly has determination of young, unstoppable rapscallion! No roadblock can halt moving train from exploding into righteous fury!"

And now Buff Frog was just rambling. "...Translation, please?" Star asked Katrina, who responded with a meek shrug.

"You know what? Whatever. We don't need this and we don't need _you_!" The coaches were rather furious now.

"You know, maybe if you guys didn't always walk around with sticks up your bums this wouldn't be happening." Kelly yelled out.

"Just get off our territory!"

"...Your _what_!?" Ooh, that deeply struck a chord with Star. Not really a word that you'd want to use unless you were involved in something such as a turf war. Or even a regular war. Star had to be restrained by Buff Frog & Katrina just to stop her from going after that, all while she felt another huge jolt of pain in her chest which inevitably stopped her.

"Oh look, now she's feigning a heart attack! _Classy_, _**Princess**__._"

Why _were_ some Mewmans just straight up douchebags? It was a mystery to everyone involved. Eventually Star calmed herself down enough and regained her composure. "You know what? Let's go. It's not worth it to put up with these airheads any more."

And with that - ignoring all of the continuing yelling from said Mewmans - Star - alongside Katrina, Buff Frog, Janna, Tom, Kelly, and the rest of the players - took her leave. "I apologize, young Butterfly." Buff Frog lamented. "I truly did not expect attitudes to be so poor & unappealing."

"Are you guys really going to make your own Cornball League?" Tom asked. "Is it even doable?"

"Doable? Absolutely!" Star exclaimed excitedly before her attitude soured slightly. "Doable before the big playground build & the exhibition match that's supposed to accompany it? That's...another question."

"One step at a time." Buff Frog reassured her. "We want Cornball League to be launched right, even if it takes time."

"And let them get the last laugh?"

"Does it even matter?" Janna asked her. "Look, here's what I say: if the game really is as convoluted, confusing, & impossible to keep straight in its current state with the current rules, then people watching are going to pick up on that. And naturally, they're going to complain about it & demand that something be done to make it more streamlined & easy to comprehend."

"What make you so certain?" Buff Frog asked.

"Personal experience. I see it _all the time_ in our own sports. In football, it's so bad that "What the heck is a catch" is a legitimate question."

"...But I thought you weren't supposed to use your hands in football." Katrina asked, clearly confused.

"_American_ football, sweetie." Star corrected her.

"Ohhhh that makes more sense."

"So what's your point?" Tom turned back to Janna.

"It's like with anything in life: if a product or service is proving to be unsatisfactory, and consistently so, then people are naturally going to want an alternative. That could be where this new Cornball League comes in. If it hits the ground running, and it's streamlined & easy to follow, people are going to flock to it in droves if and when the original Cornball League proves itself to be incompetent. But that's why it's critical for you guys to get this right, if you really wanna do this."

"Oh I do!" Katrina yelled triumphantly.

"Again I second!" Buff Frog joined in.

"Star? What about you?" Katrina turned to Star. The girl had to give it a serious moment of thought. It sounded like such a wonderful opportunity. And she was incredibly flattered that they wanted her to be a part of the experience. "It's totally okay with us if you don't want to-"

"No! I-I mean...I _do_ want to help. It sounds like a fun idea. I just don't know how much help I can be right now because of..." She gestured broadly towards herself. "Everything."

"We will take all help you can provide." Buff Frog reassured her with a shoulder pat.

"And you guys have my full support, no matter what." She and Katrina embraced; their hug was quickly taken over by the other players as well as Buff Frog. "Thanks everyone! I love you guys." Soon after they all parted, allowing Star a moment to breathe on her own. "Hey, do you guys mind if we hold off on the planning until tomorrow? I'm kinda..." She winced and grabbed at her chest again. Poor Star. "I'm kinda wiped in all honesty."

"Are you okay?" Katrina asked, a sudden exasperated look of concern crossing her face.

"Yeah, y-yeah I'm fine. Totally. Sorta. Not really. I don't really wanna talk about it, I just...need to remember when to take it easy, that's all." Another massive pain in her chest; she winced and clutched her chest, gently sitting herself down on the ground, careful not to completely faint. It was odd how this was starting to happen more as she confronted the demons. Every time she felt a twinge of guilt or anger over stuff like this - such as during the confrontation with the Mewmans - her heart acted up and the physical & emotional pain returned. Could they somehow be connected?

"Hey hey, take it easy. Chill." Janna urged, heading over to her and consoling her on one knee. "You're gonna be okay." Star was able to open her eyes slightly and see Janna kneeling there.

"S-Sorry..."

"Stop apologizing. It's not your fault..._none of it is_..." A statement Star _still_ refused to believe.

"Come on, we'll take you home." Tom & Kelly helped Janna stand Star up and - with the former magical princess slightly slumped over their shoulders - started the trek back towards...oh yeah. "Which house are we taking you to?"

"O-Oh, right...um...I think tonight's Marco's house..." She said, her voice slightly slurring from the exhaustion her sudden cardiac episode brought her.

"Oh, so she's sleeping over at the boyfriend's house now, huh?"

"Yeah, but only every other day." Janna winked at Kelly, which left her a bit confounded.

Star, meanwhile, weakly tried to turn her head back to the others. "Sorry you had to see that, guys..."

"What is matter!?" Buff Frog exclaimed in a clearly worried tone.

"Nothing I can't handle. I'll be fine, promise." She started to close her eyes as Tom & Janna started heading out. "See you guys later..."

Katrina waved goodbye to her, nervously looking on. What she just saw unfold was horrifying to her, and yet it wasn't even the worst of what's happened. "...Bye, Star."

* * *

That evening, Marco finally returned home triumphantly from his day out hanging with Jackie. The time spent with his former ex just as friends proved to be exactly what he needed, but he was eager now to return to his girlfriend and shower her with affection and then some. He had met up with Janna, Kelly, & Tom, with the three of them explaining in general what had transpired on their end, including the pledge to create their own Cornball League somehow. They also had the unfortunate task of explaining Star's cardiac episode, which understandably almost sent him into a panic.

Now it was just him, his family, & Star left in the house. He took his baby sister Mariposa up with him to his room and opened the door. He found his wonderful girlfriend peacefully sleeping under the blankets, where she had been for the past several hours since being brought home by Janna, Kelly, & Tom. An answer for her continued cardiac woes couldn't come soon enough. He carefully approached the bed and placed Mariposa down right next to her, allowing the child to cuddle up next to the sleeping Star. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

As soon as Mariposa touched her, Star shot up wide awake with a loud scream and sat there panting loudly & sweating. It was another bad dream. "M-M-Mar-Marco...?"

He sheepishly smiled, the concern blatant on his face. "Hey." He then proceeded to climb in next to her, embracing her with all of his strength. "You okay?"

"...W-Wha-"

"Tom, Janna, & Kelly told me you had an...um, "episode" at the Cornball thing, so they brought you here to sleep."

"Yeah...it's a long story..."

"They pretty much told me all of it. And you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

She smiled at him. He was _always_ considerate. "Thanks." She groaned and put a hand on her chest. Most of the pain from earlier had subsided...but not all of it. "I guess I'm stuck in this bed tomorrow, huh?"

"It's probably for the best"

"Ugh! An answer for these woes can't come soon enough."

"I feel you." He planted a kiss on her cheek and rubbed her shoulder. "So...you and Buff Frog & Katrina & the rest of the players are gonna make your own Cornball League? Is that right?"

She laughed cautiously as she picked up Mariposa and held her in her arms, kissing her repeatedly & getting her to giggle. "Well...I don't know. Do you think we can?"

"Star, you can do _anything_ you set your mind to. I have no doubt at all that you'll pull this off."

His constant encouragement of her never ceased to flatter her. "Thanks, Marco." They brought themselves in closely for a hug, with Marco being extra careful to not cause her any extra discomfort. "And how did things go with Jackie?"

"Jackie? O-Oh, uh..." Marco's blush returned, but not nearly as strongly as it had earlier. "Actually...it went really well."

"Really?"

He nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I...I opened up about how I felt about her and about...how things went down, and then we went to the arcade & played a bunch of games & had fun. I even managed to win her a stuffed teddy bear somehow."

"Aww that's so sweet!" She gently punched his arm. "Way to go, honey! I'm proud of you. So things are cool between you two?"

"Yup. We're, uh...we're okay. I think I'm gonna be a lot more comfortable being friends with her now."

"D'aww...just friends? And not "Friends With Benefits?" And of course a smug, sly smile crossed her face when she said this. Goodness what went through her head at times...

"...Okay how do you know what that even means?"

His girlfriend snickered at him. "_I'll_ never tell..." Followed by a flirtatious wink. The boy turned his face away from her in shame, his blush growing stronger. He knew she was only lovingly teasing him, but he still felt weird about the entire ordeal. "Hey hey, look at me..." He turned back to face her, finding a loving smile on her face. Not only was she incredibly sympathetic to his plight, but she was also eager to encourage him to follow through on this...if he wanted to, of course. "You know, you don't _need_ my blessing for something like this. But if you'd feel more comfortable, then you have it. Full stop."

"...what? You mean...no no, Star, p-please, it's not like that. I don't-"

"Come _on_, Marco." Her smile never wavered. "You can't seriously tell me that after all of _this_ it hasn't crossed your mind even _once_."

"Of course it has. Why do you think I'm so ashamed?" And there it was.

"But you don't have to be ashamed. They're your feelings, you're allowed to have them. _I_ know that it'll never take away from what _we_ have. It's just the nature of being a teenager. Besides, if it _had_ to be anyone, I'm glad it's Jackie. She's a physical specimen of hotness, dude. We both know that."

A brief moment of silence passed them. "That might be the understatement of the year."

"More like "of the _decade_." And then the two broke into laughter. Never could anyone understand just how _easy_ they made it look to have a casual conversation over something as intimate as "Friends With Benefits." It was awe-inspiring. "I mean, I'm sure it would a little weird for _her_ if you wanted to broach the subject to her, but-"

"_Actually_..." Now it was his turn to have a sly smile on his face.

"Oh gosh, no."

"It's a long story, and I promised her I would not break her confidence, but let's just say...she knows what that phrase means and...well..."

"Well what?"

"When I told her that I started to think about, you know, what it might've been like if she and I had that kind of intimate relationship I have with you, she...she didn't outright dismiss it."

Star's face lit up instantly. "Oh really?" He nodded. "Well well well, looks like you and I aren't the only ones with a devilish side to them, are we?"

"No we are not."

"_**YEAH!**_" Came the adorable happy scream of the little baby that was sitting quietly next to Star. The two teens picked Mariposa up and smothered her in kisses, causing her to break out into hysterical laughter.

"Look, Marco, this isn't me pushing you into going down that route with her." Star said, putting the baby back down. "I'm not going to push you into doing anything you're not comfortable doing. All I'm saying is...if this is something that plays out, a-and you want to go for it with her and she wants to go for it with you, I'm okay with it. I'd be _so_ happy for you."

The boy leaned in & kissed her again. "You don't have to worry. Right now I just want to be friends with Jackie & actually get to know her better. But...thank you. That does mean a lot." Their intimate conversation was interrupted by the sound of fierce knocking on Marco's open door. The two turned to see that standing in the open doorway were Moon & River. And they both looked like they had just seen a ghost.

"STAR!"

"PUMPKIN!"

They dashed into the room and nearly ambushed the bed, hugging Star with all their might while still being careful not to cause her further distress. "Are you alright, my love?" Her mother asked her, desperately trying to hold back tears.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." Star's voice trailed off slightly, fatigue setting in rapidly. "I just had a little scare, but that's all." She wished internally that they wouldn't stress over her as much as they did now. As flattered as she was over their increased concern for her well being & happiness, she now spent time worrying that they were making themselves crazy just for her, and she didn't like that thought.

"We came over as soon as we heard the news!" River proclaimed. "Buff Frog and his strapping young children told us everything."

"...They did?"

"We are _so_ sorry, sweetheart. I promise you if I ever find those Mewmans I will sit them down and I will give them hell-"

"Mom!" She hoarsely wheezed out, followed by a cough. "You don't have to do that. Please, not for me."

"Nonsense! They were completely out of line."

"Yeah but you're just gonna put yourself in harm's way a-and I don't want that..."

"Star, they said you were faking your heart problems!" Marco shouted angrily, almost upsetting Mariposa in the process. "That alone should be grounds for getting a swift kick in their-"

"_**MARCO!**_" Moon quickly cut him off before he could finish his sentence, despite the fact that she agreed with her overall sentiment. "Star..." She turned back to her hurting daughter. "We're here for you now, don't you worry."

"You have our full backing. Especially if the rumors of you and the lads starting your own Cornball League are true!" River winked happily her way.

"They're right. We're all here for you. And we're all pulling for you."

"...I know you guys are." The girl said somberly, momentarily lowering her head in an act of shame. Tears slowly started to form out of the crescent of her closed eyes. "...So why are my own people not?"

It was a somber, depressing question that nobody could provide an answer for. All they could do was embrace her & reassure her that they loved her & had her back every step of the way. And now if only they could find a concrete cure for her continuing heart woes...

* * *

**End of Episode 15!**

**Turns out that freelance gig I mentioned in my last post didn't even last long. Not gonna go into major details, but let's just say: if you're hiring someone for a project, don't set a price for them that you can't pay long-term. Setting an initial fixed price for the first project and then proposing a more than 80% cut in pay for all future projects is a bad look. Sorry, had to rant. Anyway back on the job hunt.**

**But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And please read & review, the feedback is greatly appreciated! ^_^**


	16. Ludo The Lovable Lug

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 16: Ludo The Lovable Lug **

**Episode Summary: With Dennis at his side, Ludo sets out to find his purpose in the new Cleaved world. Meanwhile, Star helps the kids at the orphanage get ready for their big picture day.**

**Original Release Date: May 5, 2020**

* * *

On this beautiful sunny, Earthni day, we find ourselves following the story of Ludo, the lovable little lug, as he and his younger brother Dennis were on the basketball court of their castle home, playing a casual game with each other. Emphasis on "casual," as this game was rather low energy for them. When Ludo managed to get a shot off of his brother, he didn't even flinch.

"Hooray, score..." He droned in a monotone voice before slinking to the ground in absolute boredom.

"You okay, bro?" Dennis asked, approaching him and offering him a helping hand.

"That depends. Are you as bored as I am?"

To Ludo's surprise, Dennis breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. I was afraid to say anything."

"Dennis, do you realize we've been doing almost nothing but play basketball in our courtyard since..." Ludo gestured broadly to the world in front of them. "_This_ happened?"

"Well, now that you mention it, our days have been starting to feel a little bit repetitive here and there."

"Exactly! We need to shake things up! We have to do something _new_ and _exciting _and _fulfilling_!"

"But what? Did you have any ideas?"

Ludo dusted himself off and began pacing around the court. "No, not a one. What possible use could I have now that there's no magic to harvest or any territories I feel like conquering."

"Does everything have to be about conquering something or someone?"

He turned sharply to Dennis. "Well if I don't have that going for me, then who am I?! Who _is_ Ludo Avarius!?"

"Hey, don't think of it like that. Think of this as a new opportunity to make something better. It's a completely fresh start, you can do _anything_!"

"Oh really? I'm pretty sure I can't fly or move things with my mind."

Dennis could only give off a deadpanned face. "That's not what I meant-"

"I know, I'm only teasing. But really what _could_ a cretin like myself possibly _do?_ What positive contributions could I make to society that won't be frowned upon?"

"How about...acting?" Dennis proposed. "You're charismatic, charming, adaptable...seems to me you'd fit the bill perfectly." Ludo was excited by the idea but perplexed at the notion. Really? _That_ was the first idea Dennis settled on. "What?"

"No no, nothing, nothing at all. And just where would I find any openings to fulfill this role?"

* * *

So Dennis & Ludo set off in search of opportunities. One of the buildings they passed was the Echo Creek "Unemployment Agency" center. As the name implied, it was intended to help people looking for stable work. So they decided that this was the best place for them to start. The place was relatively slow on this day, allowing both Ludo & Dennis to immediately approach the front desk and the disgruntled, middle-aged woman working it. "How can I help you gentleman today?" She asked without looking up from the paper she was reading.

"I'm looking to make a positive impact on today's society by utilizing my talents in the field of work you Earth humans called "acting." Ludo responded with a straight face. That was one way to get her attention. His inquisitive answer made her look up from her paper and stare both at them in the eye. She was simultaneously unimpressed and intrigued, so much so that she rummaged through her desk and pulled out some papers clipped together.

"Well aren't you an enthusiast." She said with a very dry and sarcastic delivery.

"...No, I'm a Kappa."

"Gesundheit."

Ludo looked like he had himself a massive case of brain freeze. "Are you mocking me?"

"Look, there's auditions being held a few buildings down to be a spokesperson for some new body lotion or something, I don't know. Why don't you try there? The information's in that booklet."

Both Ludo and Dennis stared intently at the cover of the booklet. "That sounds like fun?" Dennis shrugged, unsure of how Ludo was going to take it.

"I suppose it beats dumpster diving for food."

"What do _you _know about dumpster diving?"

"I'm going to assume that's a rhetorical question, because you would not like the answer..."

* * *

Meanwhile, some ways away, Star was hard at work at the orphanage where she was employed part-time. It was picture day. The children were set to have their picture taken to be put side to side with a newspaper and website ad in order to showcase the children that were up for adoption. Even though he wasn't technically employed by the orphanage, Marco was also by her side, but he was there for Star's sake. After her heart scare on the cornball field, she was left significantly weakened. So much so that Marco was legitimately considering calling in sick _for_ her. But Star insisted; she wanted to be there for the kids, and the kids all looked forward to seeing her. So Marco insisted to Greta & Reggie that he be allowed to work with her today, just to make sure that Star didn't push herself too hard & to take over if she couldn't keep going.

Of course, when it came to small children, Star always found a way to push on. "There you are you little angel," Star said gently as she helped finish dressing one of the babies - a two and a half year old baby girl - in her favorite outfit, which happened to be that of the tooth fairy. "Aren't you all nice and clean and cute." The baby laughed.

"Tank goo Sta!" She tried to eek out a proper thank you, but the effort was more than enough to satiate Star, who responded in kind with a hug.

"Shouldn't these kids be getting dressed up in, like, I don't know, more fancy outfits?" Marco asked. "This feels like something she would wear if she was going trick or treating. And last I checked it _was_ still summer..."

The little girl stuck her tongue out at Marco before devolving into babbling & laughing. "You tell him, Lilly." She turned to her boyfriend. "No, see, I want the kids to be comfortable in front of the camera. They're taking a picture that's going to be a part of an ad campaign to get more people to adopt. What better way to do that then them wearing the outfits that make them feel happy?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"It's all about comfort, Mr. Diaz. Just look over there..." She directed his attention to the floor, where they saw little Miles, the down-syndrome child, having a merry time playing with Marco's sister Mariposa. "Miles couldn't _be_ any happier right now if he tried."

"At least she's getting along with everyone."

"Who _wouldn't_ want to be friends with your sister? She's only the blood of the sweetest, most humble gentleman in the world." She gently pecked his cheek.

"Stoooop..." He playfully whined.

After some more time passed, Star & Marco gathered the kids and brought them down into the main lobby, where Greta & Reggie - the two people running the orphanage full-time - had a camera set up and bleachers up against the wall for the kids to sit in. "Okay kids, go take your seats." Greta announced as Star & Marco helped lead the kids into the bleachers. It was rather easy to get them all seated. Keeping them seated, however, proved to be a bit more of a challenge. "Say cheese!" Greta took the first picture. But when it was printed, it was...not perfect. Some of the kids were squirming around, clearly uncomfortable. "Uh oh..."

Upon the first picture being taken, Star raced into the scene to comfort the kids. "What's a matter, babies? Are these seats too hard for your baby bottoms?" She felt the bleacher seats. They weren't the softest surfaces in the world, but Star didn't believe that alone would cause them to react negatively. "They're not that bad. I've felt harder."

Marco followed suit & agreed with her assessment. "Yeah they're fine. But something has to be wrong for the kids to be rowdy." They each began to comfort several of the kids at a time, slowly soothing them until they were all calm again. "You kids okay? It's okay, it's just a picture."

"Maybe they needed to be distracted? Just long enough for the picture to be taken?"

"Any ideas on how to do that?"

"Nope. But I'm open to suggestions. Come on, Marco, if we put our heads together we should be able to figure _something_ out. We're plenty smart, aren't we?"

"No!" Came the adorable response from one Mariposa. Already she was developing into a sassy one. And yet her cuteness made it impossible for either Star or Marco to be annoyed with her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ludo & Dennis arrived at their predetermined location, with Ludo signing up to audition for the role of spokesperson for the new "Glossy Coat Body Lotion." Ludo was hopeful about his chances, but could his acting chops measure up to all of the other hopefuls?

"Ludo, breathe..." Dennis urged him. "You're starting to sweat. Do you wanna go in there with pit stains? This isn't an audition for body spray."

"Yes, Yes, I know. You don't have to remind me." Ludo groaned before taking in a deep breath. "It's no bid deal. I'm going to ace this! I shall conquer this audition, and then...**_THE WORLD_**!"

"Um...I thought you said you were done with evil?"

"Oh I am. I just always wanted to say that."

"And...you have. Several times. In front of me-"

"Can you go one day without being a stick in the mud?"

The door leading into the audition room opened slowly. A middle-aged man popped his head out of the door. "Mr...L-uh-do?"

Ludo could only deadpan. Of course they get his name wrong. But oh, that wouldn't matter if he was able to nail the audition & get the role. He stood up, stretched briefly, and readied himself to go. "You ready to do this?"

"As ready as I will ever be, dear brothers." Ludo proclaimed proudly as he marched towards the door towards what he hoped would be his destiny. Dennis sat back in his own seat and waited patiently for Ludo to return. He had all the confidence in the world that his brother would be successful. So in the meantime, he decided to make some small talk with the person sitting next to him, who was preparing for his audience as well.

"So...this your first audition?" He asked about as awkwardly as one could. "I-It's my brother's first one too."

The guy could only look at Dennis like he had five heads, all of them melting. "Are you supposed to be like a frog or something?"

He chuckled back. "Oh no, see we're-" And as if it was exactly on cue, a loud, ear-piercing, shrieking noise came from the audition room. Little did any of them know that it was actually Ludo making the noise. But that would soon be made public knowledge to all, as several minutes later, two law enforcement officers burst into the room in an urgent manner, dashing towards the audition room. "What the heck!?"

"Sorry sir, we've gotten noise complaints from the neighbors!" One of them explained as the both of them entered the room. After another several minutes passed, the officers left the room, visibly annoyed & disgruntled, and exiting the building entirely. Ludo soon followed, exiting the audition room, also looking quite disheveled. His stack of papers was torn up & wrinkled, and his eyes appeared bloodshot, like he had just spent a good chunk of time crying. Dennis raced out of his chair over to his brother.

"Are you...did you...what happened in there!?" He could barely form a coherent question.

"I...don't think I'm going to get the role." Ludo said in such a spectacularly quiet, hoarse whisper.

"Strangely, that doesn't even answer my question!"

"I panicked, okay!? I started flailing, grasping for straws. I-I had to reach deep into the ether of my mind and pull something to show for those harsh judges."

"Is that what you're calling it!? Because it sounded more like you were giving birth to triplets!"

"Well how do you know I _wasn't_!? Maybe I'm actually just that good of an actor!" His dramatic protest was interrupted by a loud snicker by one of the other actor hopefuls. "Oh I'm sorry? Are you offended? Why is it so hard for you to entertain such an idea?"

The hopeful lowered his paper and looked Ludo square in the eye. "My friend, you do _not_ have the body to pull it off." Well that was certainly an answer. Makes you wonder if he misunderstood the question or if he was intentionally trolling them. Either way, Dennis & Ludo decided to leave & go somewhere else.

"I'm sorry that didn't work out." Dennis comforted his brother as they walked down the street. "I'm sure there's something you can do." They passed by a nearby fast food burger restaurant. It had a "Help Wanted" sign in the window. "Huh...look at this..." Dennis walked up to the sign and read it out loud. "Wanted: Fry cook. No experience necessary. See front desk for application. Seems simple enough."

"A fry cook?! You expect me to lower myself to that level? Squander whatever talents I possess?"

"Okay, first of all, fry cooking is _not_ beneath you. It's not beneath anyone. Sometimes in public crises they're the only ones we can actually rely on. Secondly...what talents?"

Ludo glared at his brother menacingly. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Come on, give it a chance. Not everyone gets to start a a glamorous desk job with a fancy suit or tie."

"Ha, that's rich! I'd never be caught _dead_ in a suit & tie!"

"Oh trust me, you _will_ be." Dennis snickered to him. Ludo raised an eyebrow; he was not going to like what Dennis had to say next. "No seriously, Earth people bury their own in suits & fancy clothes."

And true enough, he was put off by what was just relayed to him. "Once again I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Just give it a shot, dude. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

* * *

Oh I don't know...how about Ludo inexplicably setting the restaurant ablaze?

Yup, Ludo actually managed to get a job as a fry cook & was asked to start right away. He accepted the position...and he proceeded to get the grill to somehow explode & set the place ablaze, costing him the job that he had for a mere eleven minutes. That had to be a world record for incompetence, right?

"You alright?" Dennis asked his brother; luckily Ludo sustained no injuries. At least physical injuries. The emotional injuries were far more humiliating.

"I just turned the grill on. I put the meat on...I didn't touch anything else-HOW IN THE NAME OF CORN DID ANY OF THIS HAPPEN!? Am I just cursed to break everything that I touch!?" Probably not, but that didn't stop Dennis from superstitiously scooting away from Ludo slightly. "Really comforting, brother."

"I'm sure you're overreacting."

Nevertheless, Ludo was approached by one of the firemen who were handling the blaze. "Are you two okay?"

"Yes sir, we're fine."

"No injuries? Burn marks?"

"The only thing that's been burned is my fighting spirit..." Ludo said with a rather dejected tone. The fireman, however, looked back at the still-burning restaurant, then back at Ludo.

"I'm...pretty sure that's not true." Without another word, the fireman departed, leaving an annoyed Ludo in his wake.

"**_I WAS SPEAKING METAPHORICALLY, YOU CLOD!"_**

"Ludo, Ludo, relax. Breathe..." Dennis had to calm him down. Couldn't afford a burst blood vessel here or something. "I'm sure we can still try other things."

"Like what? What do you possibly think I could be good at and not cause any more damage?"

* * *

The next odd job they went with: sign spinning. Ludo managed to get a job at the Stop & Slurp, the Echo Creek convenience store. His task was to stand out in front of the store by the street & spin his "Stop & Slurp" sign & garner attention from bystanders to try and drum up business. "Why is this sign so large & bulky!?" Ludo complained. Good start.

"Probably for dramatic effect or something. Look it's very simple. Just spin the sign and point it at the convenience store when people come by. Pretty straight forward."

"I hope so."

So Dennis took a backseat and allowed Ludo to do his work. For a few moments at least, it was quiet & straight forward. Ludo spun his sign, and onlookers paid attention even though none actually went _into_ the convenience store. Eventually, though, that changed. One (un)lucky bystander walked up to Ludo, who stopped spinning his sign long enough to address the person in front of him.

"So...like...what does this place actually _sell_?" The person asked Ludo.

"Oh, I haven't the faintest idea."

Yes. He really said that. Dennis facepalmed himself harder than he had ever facepalmed in his life. Yes, when Ludo was hired, he was informed by the manager what the convenience store normally carries. Feels like something you're supposed to know as an employee. Even the bystander had this thought.

"You...you work for this place...and you don't know what they sell?"

"Give me a break, peasant. I started like four minutes ago."

"They sell lottery tickets, liquids for your vehicle, candy, and other unhealthy assortments!" Dennis yelled from the background, which only further enraged Ludo.

"Thanks, man!" The bystander turned to Ludo with an annoyed glare in his eyes. "And he doesn't even work here."

"How do you know that? What if he's just being a lazy lout taking too long of a break?"

"I don't work here." Dennis called out, again draw Ludo's ire.

"See? But maybe he _should_ be working here. The frog boy over there seems to have a few more cards in his deck than you d-"

"Stop. Stop right no-did you just call him a frog boy?"

"Why I sure did! But don't look at me, your son's the one that's exposing your poor work ethics-"

"Stop. Stop again-my son?!"

"I'm his brother, you invalid!" Dennis shouted out in an exasperated fury.

"Brother? But...he's _taller_ than you?"

The intelligence was not strong with this one. Just like the patience was not strong with Ludo...

As a result of this display of stupidity, Ludo used his massive sign to try and beat over the bystander multiple times. No significant injuries were sustained due to Ludo being a total wimp and the sign being basically cardboard, but a police complaint was lodged and Ludo was taken into the police station to be processed & released. "Alright, mister Avarius, you're free to go." The officer said to Ludo as he returned him to his brother. "Stay out of trouble now, ya hear?"

And so the two of them departed the station, continuing to trudge down the street. "This day has been an unmitigated disaster." Ludo exclaimed disappointingly.

"Don't give up yet, there _has_ to be something-"

"Oh will you just give it up? There's _nothing_ out there for me. I'm a completely talentless fool w-" As if by happenstance, the two of them passed by the orphanage that Star & Marco were currently residing in. Ludo caught a glimpse through one of the windows of Star and Marco each carrying one of the little toddlers across the room. "What's this?"

"Hey, is that...?" Dennis was not nearly as acquainted with Star & Marco as Ludo was, but he listened to countless retellings of encounters Ludo had with the two of them.

"Why yes...yes it is. Star Butterfly & Marco Diaz...in the flesh. So, this is what they've been reduced to...working with _babies_."

"Please tell me you're not thinking of going in and applying for a job here, are you? You're not exactly the nurturing type."

"Okay, first of all, you take that back. Secondly...I was just going to go in there and, I don't know, make lots of noise, irritate the children or something. But I like your idea better!"

Dennis loudly sighed. "And that's what I get for talking."

* * *

As for Star & Marco themselves on the inside, they were becoming increasingly frustrated with their situation. The children, while not outright misbehaving, were proving to be a fussy annoyance, refusing to sit still long enough to actually have their picture taken. "Okay, we've fed the kids, we've changed them, we're fixed up their outfits..." Star recounted, noting that they had done pretty much everything a babysitter should do while looking after children. "That's all taken care of. But they _still_ won't sit still for the picture."

"I still say it's the bleachers." Marco argued. "They may not be hard on _our_ bottoms, but babies have different comfort levels from us." Marco looked down at baby Miles, who appeared to be slightly agitated but not in a manner that would constitute misbehavior. The boy's eyes shifted towards the window where he took note of Ludo & Dennis standing in the reflection. He loudly babbled and pointed at the window, directing their attention to it. "Is that..."

"Ludo?" Star asked, squinting her eyes and making out his shape. Ludo triumphantly took this as a sign to let himself into the room.

"Surprise!" He gleefully announced, once again displaying his proverbial talent in not reading the room. "It is I, Ludo the-" Oh but that hubris would once again blow up in his face. He was so caught up in his monologue that he failed to detect that there were some toys left around on the floor. He stepped on one of them and found himself flying in the air before landing hard on his back. He loudly screamed upon impact as Dennis rushed to his side. Star & Marco were about to join him in helping Ludo stand up...

Except that was when baby Miles began laughing where he sat. He had seen the whole thing unfold and once Ludo hit the ground, something inside of him triggered, and he began laughing like a madman. The other babies soon joined in the laughter, sitting almost completely still otherwise.

"Marco...you seeing this?" Star whispered to her boyfriend.

"Yup..."

Ludo, however, was not amused, evidence by his marching towards them. "How dare you children laugh at me! You show me some respect, for I was but for a brief time the king of Mew-NIIIIIIIII!" He stepped on what appeared to be a race card toy and went gliding right into the kitchen, crashing into the table and falling over. Once again, the babies erupted into loud laughter, sitting still otherwise. Greta & Reggie were especially awestruck by the development in front of them.

"This is incredible! They've never been this still for us!" Greta said to the group.

"Thank you so much, strange frog thing!" Reggie proclaimed to Ludo.

"For the last time, I'm not a-oh never mind..." Ludo droned off, trying to stay conscious. Star ran right over to him & gently helped him up.

"Ludo...you're a genius!" Star proclaimed to Ludo.

"I appreciate the sentiment but I'm pretty sure you're wrong..." He responded with an ever-so-slight slur in his words.

"How did you know that these babies liked to see people fall down and go boom?" She asked him; he responded by looking at her like she was speaking a made-up language. "Oh right right right, we haven't...we haven't seen each other in a while." She turned towards Dennis. Prior to this moment, neither she nor Marco were aware that Ludo had any siblings at all. "Oh, and you have a kid! Congratulations! When did that happen?"

"**_I'M HIS BROTHER!_**" Dennis angrily groaned. Well, that was the end of that.

"Okay...so..." And she turned back to Ludo. "Here's the thing: we've been trying to get these babies to sit still so they can have their picture taken. If they'll sit still for you, we'll be able to snap that photo and be done with this."

"Let me take a guess. You're going to ask me to fall down a lot & act like a buffoon in order to keep these meandering children entertained to take your silly photo."

"Well look at you, Ludo. You're a smart one, aren't you."

"As a matter of fact, I am. So smart, in fact, that I'm pretty sure saying "no" to this proposition is the right move to make."

"Come on, Ludo," Marco begged. "It'll be really quick. We'll make sure you don't actually get hurt, and once it's over, you can leave and you'll never have to see these kids again."

"But why wouldn't you want to see these adorable little angels?" Star baby-talked, walking over to Miles & picking him up, smothering him in kisses & getting hysterical laughter out of the child. "They are the cutest widdle babies you ever did see and you'll never want to be away from them."

Ludo rolled his eyes. "Oh, Star, you vastly underestimate my ability to forget about people & things once I wipe my mind of them. Unlike you, I don't have any nostalgic or emotional attachment to many things, with the except of Dennis."

"Isn't that a depressing way to live life?" Marco asked.

"Not the point. The point is that no, I will not help you in this endeavor. I've already been humiliated more than enough today."

"How so?"

"He's been trying to find "purpose" in life so we've spent today finding him some odd jobs around town." Dennis explained. "First he tried auditioning for an acting role..."

"Oh so _you_ were the ear-piercing noise we heard earlier!" Star exclaimed. Ludo groaned.

"Yes, that was me."

"Then he got a job as a fry cook..."

"So _you_ were the one that set that burger joint on fire?!" Marco questioned.

"How do you infer _that_ from his one statement?"

"I graduate high school early while on an interdimensional trip. I've been around the block."

"It's true, he has." Star agreed.

"And then he got a job as a sign spinner at the convenience store."

"I was arrested for hitting a customer with the sign! They didn't give me a lollypop or any of that good stuff."

Dennis sighed & patted Ludo's shoulder. "Ludo...I told you, that's for doctor's visits, not police arraignments."

"What's the difference? They're both hell!"

"Anyway!" Star shouted, hoping to get the conversation back on track. "Ludo, are you sure there isn't anything we can do to convince you to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss _Butterfly_."

Marco reached into his hoodie pocket & pulled out a fat stack of cash. "I'll give you $650."

Ludo's eyes lit up right away as he reached for the stack out of his hands. "DEAL! I'll go get myself ready!" Marco was just as surprised as everyone else that Ludo so eagerly took the deal, but hey, this meant they were one step closer to finishing the task for the day, so they weren't about to complain.

A few minutes passed and things were finally ready. Ludo was set up behind Reggie, who was taking the photo. He was going to step into the kids' sight, step on the race car again, and send himself flying onto the ground, eliciting distracting laughter from them long enough for Reggie to take the photo. Star & Marco were finishing setting the kids up in their respective seats. There was a notable hole in the middle of the back row. "Okay kiddies, are you ready?" Star said to the kids. She got herself a nice batch of cheers from them. But then she found herself getting another surprise.

Baby Miles managed to get out of his seat and waddle all the way over to Star. "Miles, no, you have to go back to your seat." But he remained undeterred; he grabbed her hand and began stomping in place, turning around and pointing to the bleachers. He was trying to tell her something. "Okay Miles, honey, no. Listen to me, you need to go back to your seat. I'll be right here when it's all done, okay? I can't..." As she continued to speak, it slowly sank in for her what he was trying to communicate. And suddenly a rush of emotions entered her mind. She picked him up off the ground. "Miles...sweetheart...is that what you guys wanted the whole time? Do you want _me_ to be in the picture?" He nodded about as rapidly as his tiny head would allow. All of the other kids also followed suit. In the background, Marco, Greta, & Reggie exchanged looks, kicking themselves wondering how they could've missed that. "Sweetie I _can't_ be in the picture with you. I'm not up for adoption."

Any hope of trying to quell the boy's emotions without involving herself were quashed. Miles began throwing a fit, partially playfully, but it was undeniable. He - as well as the rest of the babies - wanted Star to be in the picture with them. Marco, Reggie, & Greta all silently aww'd at the sight. Even Ludo found himself slightly teary-eyed at the sight before him. "Oh this is just too adorable." Ludo turned to Marco. "She's a natural mother figure. I bet she's had lots of practice, hasn't she?" He winked & nudged the boy's arm, moving his gaze towards Mariposa. Marco wasn't impressed.

"Ask me that one more time. I dare you." Marco whispered in a rather loud tone.

"Is Mariposa your daughter or your sister?" And Ludo took him up on that offer. And it turned out to be a bluff, as Marco said and did nothing in retaliation. "I knew you were bluffing." Their brief little tiff was interrupted by the sound of the babies laughing with Star, Miles leading the charge. Star looked over to Reggie & Greta.

"Um...is it okay if I...if I sit in on this one?" Star asked them sweetly, tears forming in their eyes. It wasn't the original plan, but how could any of them say no to the babies? They were constantly blown away by how loved she was by the children, and this was yet another example of them wanting her to be a part of their life. So, without further delay, Star whisked herself towards the empty spot on the bleachers and took her seat, tears fully streaming down her face and the kids all clamoring & cheering for her. "HURRY LUDO! FALL DOWN AND GO BOOM!"

Ludo began walking - unconsciously - towards the race card on the ground, grumbling. "Do not talk to me like I'm a **_CHIIIIIIILD_**!" He stepped on it without noticing and went flying, falling down on the ground in pain. This commotion caused the children to turn in the direction of the noise - and face the camera - and begin laughing loudly. They had a very small window to get this photo right.

"HURRY TAKE THE PHOTO! TAKE THE PHOTO!"

* * *

The next day, Star & Marco returned to the orphanage, along with Ludo & Dennis, sitting at the kitchen table with Reggie & Greta. They were reading a newspaper, where the advertisement for the orphanage was on page 2, with the photo that they had taken of the kids (and Star) was right at the top of the page. "Wow, it came out great!" Marco exclaimed, eyeing the picture. Star was the most notable part of the picture, with watery eyes and a massive smile on her face. "You look so cute with these kids, sweetie."

"Why thank you, my little mulberry." Still trying to make that pet name work, she was. She kissed him gently on his cheek, eliciting a laugh from him.

"Would you two just get a room already?" Dennis asked, not realizing the mouse trap he just stuck his foot into.

"Don't worry, we save _that_ kind of fun for the bedroom." Star answered, her and Marco exchanging a flirtatious wink, leaving Dennis completely confounded. The phone began ringing. Reggie went over to the front desk to answer it.

"Echo Creek Orphanage...no, ma'am, I'm sorry. A-Again, the older kid is not up for adoption, she _works_ here."

Everyone had a good chuckle at the expense of that line. This was not the first call the orphanage had gotten about wanting to adopt Star. "Guess the babies aren't the only one here who's popular." Marco gently nudged his girlfriend's arm.

"Soooooo Ludo...what'cha gonna do now?" Star asked her former nemesis. "Did you ever figure out what you're gonna do with yourself?"

"Well, I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I had a bit of _fun_ yesterday." Ludo responded rather optimistically. "I didn't particularly like the bruises I sustained, but seeing the children enjoy themselves...well, I have to admit, it...filled me up with...something. I've...never experienced anything quite like it before."

"What, you mean indigestion? Nah, I'm pretty sure you've felt that before." Marco joked, earning an unimpressed scowl from Star.

"Anyway...I think I've decided that I'm going to pursue work that'll allow me to replicate yesterday's situation on a more consistent manner, where I'll be able to interact with little tykes like them all the time!"

"So...you're going to be a clown." Marco interjected. "But what does that have to do with your job hunt?" Again, an unimpressed glare from Star, this time being coupled with her (gently) pouring her glass of water on his head.

"That's a touchdown, Marco. Don't go for a field goal." Boy way to strangle the life out of that analogy, princess.

"You're not even using the right metaphor!"

"Okay but seriously, Ludo?" Star reached over and offered a high five to the creature, which he happily accepted. "Congrats. We're really happy for you, and I hope it works out for you."

"Thank you, Star Butterfly. I-" His gaze drifted off to one of the clocks on the wall; that's when he realized he had to get moving. "Oh corn, I have to go! I don't want to be late for my first stop!" He and Dennis got out of their seats and started for the front door. "Buh-bye, Star & Marco!"

"Bye!" Both Dennis & Ludo waved goodbye to the two lovebirds, who were left with Reggie & Greta at the table.

"Where do you think he's off to?" Marco asked his girlfriend, who merely shrugged.

"No clue. I just hope whoever he's going to, they appreciate him half as much as these beautiful kids appreciated him yesterday."

* * *

And where _was_ Ludo supposed to go today for his first big gig as a child entertainer? Why, to none other than the residence of...Jeremy Birnbaum, Marco's former nine-year old rival. Yes, apparently it was his birthday today, and for his birthday, he demanded a clown. The parents, despite being insanely rich, were not interested in spending their vast wealth to hire the best talent, so they went supremely cheap & hired Ludo, who, thanks to his own incompetence & inexperience, only charged a measly dollar for his services. This was not a functional family unit.

Ludo's first trick for the birthday boy? Balloon animals. Unfortunately, Ludo was...to put it mildly, spectacularly horrible at balloon animals. His abilities in the craft amounted to...blowing into the balloon hole and making a long balloon shape. It could either be a caterpillar, a snake, a baseball bat, or lightsaber. "Ta-da!" He shouted with extreme levels of uncertainty in his voice. "It's a caterpillar!" He handed the balloon to Jeremy, but the boy wouldn't take it from him.

"That just looks like a regular balloon." The boy whined, turning to his parents. "You said he was a professional!"

"Did we?" The father droned. "Oh, well, we lied."

"Why!?"

"Because we didn't feel like spending more money than we had to this year, son. For whatever it's worth, we had zero expectations for this...charlatan."

"Charlatan?!"

"Does this mean I'm not going to get my dollar?" Ludo asked, which only served to further irk the boy.

"**_A DOLLAR!?_**" The boy was about to have a tantrum of historic proportions. "Are you kidding me!? You went uber cheap on the entertainment _again_!? You coulda gotten anyone and you got this _fraud_ instead!?"

"Fraud!?" And now it was Ludo's turn to be angry. "Just because I'm starting out doesn't mean I'm a fraud!"

"You can't even make simple balloon animals! You're not a clown, you're a fraud!"

"_Get out of this house!_"

"**_I LIVE HERE!"_**

* * *

**End of Episode 16!**

**So I'll apologize in advance if this installment isn't as good as previous installments. It's definitely not as long. I'm proud of all of my work, but there are chapters I'm more disappointed in than others, and this is one of them. I want to incorporate some of the secondary or minor characters & give them some spotlight here and there. Writing about Star or Marco or the Butterflies or Tom or Janna is a lot easier & more fun than writing about Alfonzo or Ferguson or Ludo or any of those characters.**

**Still, I feel like one of the worst things a writer can do is stick to their comfort zone, thus I challenge myself occasionally to write chapters like this with lesser characters. But I had fun writing it, don't get me wrong, and hopefully it'll at least resonate with some people.**

**Also, shameless self-promotion: if anyone is looking for a freelance YouTube video editor, feel free to get in touch. I'm looking for work XD**

**As always, please remember to read & review!**


	17. Sleepwalking SuperStar

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 17: Sleepwalking SuperStar**

**Episode Summary: Following an incredibly bizarre night that saw Star sleepwalk herself into a long night of helping her fellow townspeople - including a bunch of ungrateful Mewmans - Star must summon up the courage to finally confront the very thing that originally caused her to sleepwalk in the first place: her mother issues. **

**Original Release Date: May 13, 2020**

* * *

Star slowly opened her eyes, coming out of her extremely deep sleep. From the way she looked, one would think she hadn't slept for a week straight. Her vision remained blurry; she couldn't make out any shapes or objects for the time being. All she knew that she was resting on an extremely comfortable object. "Good morning, Marco..." She whispered in as flirty of a tone as she could. She gently patted the object and smacked her lips. Her vision slowly began to come back to her...just in time for the pain in her chest to return. "Stupid heart problems..." She gritted. But her nerves cooled down long enough to turn back to the object she was patting. "Marco, have I ever told you what a nice pillow you make? Your abs might be squishy but they're so comforting. It's like a cloud made out of marshmallows. Hmm...I wonder...I wonder if your hot boy tush would make for a better pillow..."

"Not nearly as good as yours, babe."

"Oh stop being so-" Uh oh. That voice didn't come from the ground. And finally her vision cleared completely, allowing her to see exactly what was wrong around her. She saw her boyfriend not a few feet in front of her, wearing a red bathrobe and waving nervously to him.

"Hi honey."

She then looked down at the ground and saw a sight that disturbed her. She saw that she had been sleeping not with or on her boyfriend, but on a large sack of flour, evidenced by the large puddle of drool on it. That wasn't what disturbed her; she was used to waking up to a wet pillow. What disturbed her was the fact that she was not in her room, her boyfriend's room, or even on the ground. No, in fact, she was...on a rooftop. Yes, on a rooftop. It took a few moments for the revelation to sink in for her. "Marco..." In a panic, she dashed to the edge of the roof and peered over, noticing the busy street below her; people were up and going about their day, while cars were passing by in a hurry.

How did she get here? What in the name of Earthni happened? And why was she so physically exhausted? She turned hastily to face Marco, her beating bloodshot eyes locking in on his concerned smile. "Marco...start talking. What is going _on_?!"

The boy stayed silent for a moment, slowly shuffling himself closer to his girlfriend. "You sure you want to know? I don't think you're gonna like what you hear."

"It's better than racking my brain trying to guess. Just tell me, Marco. I'm a big girl."

He took a deep breath and edged closer to her, eventually wrapping her in a hug. It was like his warning shot for what was to come. He was certain she was not going to like the answer he gave. He pulled back from the hug and looked her square in the eye. "...You've been sleepwalking."

Her tired eyes shot right open. No, that couldn't be true, could it? She hadn't sleepwalked since her early days on Earth, the days when she was still a wayward princess being incredibly reckless with magic. And now it was happening _again_? But why? "If that's a joke, Marco, it's not funny!"

"I wouldn't kid about something like this! Why would you think that?"

"I don't know! Why on Earth am I sleepwalking again!?"

"I was gonna ask _you_ that. People don't just randomly start sleepwalking repeatedly out of the blue."

"...repeatedly?" Her inquiry made the boy realize he made a goof-up, covering his mouth quickly in a vain hope that she would drop the matter. "Marco...how long has this been going on?"

**_"STAR!"_**

But before the boy even had a chance to answer, their attention was directed again at the ground. The two peered over the ledge and saw a small group of people gathering on the grass. This group consisted of Star's parents - Moon & River - Marco's parents - Angie & Rafael - Eclipsa, Globgor, Janna, & Pony Head. "Star!" Moon was the one calling out for her daughter.

"M-Mom!" Star instantly felt a wave of shame coursing through her veins as her face turned red. All she could produce was incomprehensible stammering. She felt completely humiliated. "I...I'm so-"

"Are you alright, sweetheart!?"

Moon's question, for whatever reason, completely knocked the wind out of Star. The last thing she expected was immediate concern for her well-being. Perhaps she was wrong to have that mindset, but this _was_ still her mother. "I-I'm fine...I think?" She found herself being gently enveloped in Marco's embrace as he slowly helped her get off the roof. "This is so embarrassing..."

* * *

Once Star was safely back on the ground, she found herself wrapped in her Home Vacation pink bathrobe and tended to by her folks. "We were petrified for you, pumpkin." River exclaimed. "Thank heavens you're not hurt."

"No I'm not hurt, just...embarrassed." She explained. "And confused. Can someone _please_ tell me what's happening!?"

"Sweetheart, you've been sleepwalking, but I assume the boy's already relayed that information." Eclipsa explained.

"Yes, he has. But, like, _what_ is going on?!" She found herself approached by Marco, who gently patted her shoulder as he readied himself to speak.

"We think you've been sleepwalking for the past three nights."

"What!?" She shouted, her jaw almost hitting the ground. "Three nights!?"

"...Yeah."

"Girl you, like, zonk out and praddled all over town and you drove us nuts, girl!" Pony Head exclaimed, putting it about as elequently as only she could.

"...What happened, exactly?"

"Well..." Marco explained. "The first night that it happened, I didn't even realize what was going on. You just walked in one morning..."

**_[Flashback]_**

_**Marco slowly opened his eyes and allowed the bright Earthni sky to envelope his room, where he and Star had slept the night prior. Unfortunately, when his vision cleared, he saw that his girlfriend was not actually in the bed with him. Based on the position of the blankets, it appeared that she had gotten out of bed some time ago. That position was further strengthened when he heard footsteps enter his room. He sat up and saw that it was Star who walked in, looking rather disheveled & tired, dark circles around her eyes. But there was something different about her. Her eyes were wide open, but there was...a certain spark missing. An outsider would speculate she was under a hypnotic spell. **_

_**"...Star...?" Marco said quietly, left in a befuddled state as he stared at his life. Luckily, whatever trance she was in was broken by his mere voice. She blinked and loudly gasped for air, panting as she looked around and tried to regain a sense of her surroundings. "You okay?"**_

_**She turned to him, just as confused as he was. "I...I think so?"**_

_**"What, were you in the bathroom or something?"**_

_**She genuinely had no idea how to answer him. She shrugged. "I guess so?"**_

_**Despite his suspicions, he accepted her answer & leaped out of bed. "Whatever. Let's go get breakfast." He grabbed her hand, and the two of them went downstairs where his parents were making them a hot breakfast.**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

"Marco, I swear on all that is corn I have _no_ idea what happened. One minute I-I was cuddling you in your bed and you were kissing me all over my face. Then the next I shot up awake and found myself standing in the middle of your room! I must've looked so stupid to you..."

"I didn't think anything of it that night. Or the next night when it happened."

"...But then?"

"Then there was last night..."

_**[Flashback]**_

_**Star & Marco were both peacefully slumbering in Star's bed. All was quiet...that is until Star began to stir. Without provocation, the girl rose up out of bed, eyes wide open with the same trance-like stare she had before, and methodically got out of bed. Luckily she had her sleepwear on or this would be awkward as all get out. She put on a pair of boots and then slowly started walking towards the door, making her way out and out of the house entirely. Marco sat up at this exact moment, suspecting that Star was going to leave again, but unfortunately he was too late.**_

_**"Shoot." He said quietly to himself, leaping out of bed and preparing himself to chase after her. As he left his room, the door to his parents' room swung open.**_

_**"Is it happening again?" Angie asked her son while holding a sleepy Mariposa.**_

_**"I think so." He groaned in frustration. "Mom, Dad, you go after her, I'm gonna go get her folks."**_

_**"Be careful mijo." His father called out as his gave them a thumbs up and raced off out of the house, chasing after his sleepwalking girlfriend.**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

"I thought if I went straight to the castle to get your folks I'd lose track of you too easily. So I went to get Janna instead." Marco explained, formally introducing Janna into this web of insanity.

"Aww, I'm sorry you got dragged into this," Star lamented to her friend. Janna shrugged.

"Eh, I had nothing better to do, and unlike you I'm not a total mess without my beauty sleep."

Star could not help but groan. It was true, back in the good old days and especially now. Although frankly, given her state, it didn't matter how much sleep she actually got. She was eternally tired.

"So I got Janna to rig up a flare that I _knew_ your folks would interpret correctly."

"And once we saw the pretty lights in the sky..." River picked up.

"And I convinced my loving husband that the sky was not on fire..." Moon interjected, causing scattered snickering in the group.

"We went off to find you, pumpkin."

"So the sky _wasn't_ exploding and stuff?" Pony Head inquired. "We're not all gonna die or whatever?"

"No, Miss Pony Head, we're not going to die." Eclipsa reassured her. "_Today_, that is."

"Have you guys really been chasing after me _all night_?" Star asked, clearly horrified. "Was I _that_ out of it?"

"For someone who was sleepwalking, you sure were hard to catch." Marco explained. "Even when we had the noise trail we could follow."

"...noise trail to follow?"

"Let's just say when you said you snore like a lumberjack, you weren't kidding." Janna approached her and leaned in to Star to whispered something...rather loudly. "It took all of Diaz's willpower to not be aroused while we were looking for you."

"SHUT UP, JANNA!" The boy shouted, his face going an entirely new shade of red.

"It's your own fault, lover boy."

"Marco, she's right." Not even Star could fault Janna's logic here.

"Yeah...I know...except n-no it's not, we didn't even _have_ the noise trail to help us for most of the night."

"...okay I thought I was confused before, but now..." Poor Star, but unfortunately she wasn't alone. Though the others mostly knew the circumstances of their situation, even they expressed confusion.

"We'll try to explain it on the way home..."

* * *

"...I was...sleep-helping?"

As it turned out, Star's sleepwalking was surprisingly more productive this time around than it was all that time ago. Over the past three nights, every time Star had managed to leave her bed, she schlepped herself all around Echo Creek in a bizarre, almost hypnotized trance that compelled her to find people - or monsters - and do _something_ to better their everyday lives. Even at the dead of night. Unfortunately, this resulted in Star being left in a state of extreme fatigue & sleep deprivation. Despite the fact that she was technically in a sleep-esque state, her body wasn't actually registering the sleep.

"Yeah...you were..." Marco hugged his girlfriend & allowed her to rest her weary head on his shoulder.

"Okay, so, like...what exactly does that mean?"

"Well...there's _this_..." As he spoke, the group took note of the street they were walking on. The street appeared to have several potholes scattered that had been filled & painted over.

"Wait a minute...isn't this street usually, like, damaged with...craters or something? What does Earth usually call them?"

"Pot holes."

"Right, pot holes. This street is like urban legend for those pesky holes. Where are they?" It didn't take her that long to connect the dots. "Oh no...did _I..."_

"Yeah, you did. I don't know how you did it, but you filled in every single one of these pot holes all by yourself."

"It's true!" Yelled a female bystander that was standing in front of their lawn watching the group pass by. This female bystander was a Mewman - one of middle age. Though recent run-ins with Mewmans have left quite the bitter taste in their mouths, particularly Star's, this Mewman would show herself to be significantly different from the ones they've encountered before.

"You...you saw me do that!?" Star asked in utter shock.

"Saw you? Honey, I _helped_ you."

Again Star's jaw nearly dropped. "You _helped_?"

"Three nights ago to be exact. Well...if you count me providing you with the supplies you needed to actually do it as "helping."

"So you just happen to have a bunch of gravel, asphalt, and every other supply one would need to actually fill in roadside potholes at your disposal?" Janna questioned, rightfully skeptical of the woman's claim.

"Certainly. I _am_ the one that's been doing it all of these years." And now it was everyone else's turn to have their jaws nearly hit the ground. "Well, I _was_ back when this place was _just_ Mewni and not..."

"But isn't that work kind of tedious and unrewarding?"

"Of course it is. But someone has to do it."

"And you just let a sleepwalking girl who's also going through a heaping level of stress herself just take the responsibility away from you?"

"She was sleepwalking?"

The kids and Pony Head all exchanged looks with each other before turning back to this woman. "Uh, _yeah_, she was."

"You mean, like, she wasn't sleepwalking or whatever?" Pony Head inquired.

"She didn't look like she was when I spoke her her. She seemed lucid, she understood everything I said to her...nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I swear I had no idea!"

"What did I say to you when we talked?" Star asked, her curiosity giving way to panic.

"You knocked on my door - you were ever so polite - and you asked me point blank if you could "give me a hand" with the potholes. I thought you just meant help me out, not take over the whole darn job! You were dead set in doing the whole thing, I was not really comfortable with trying to talk you out of it."

"And why's that?" Marco asked her.

"Well..."

**_[Flashback]_**

**_Star - still in her sleepwalking state - was very hard at work filling all of the potholes scattered along the street. By this point, she had been working well into the night for several hours straight with no break for herself. The fatigue was quite evident. The poor woman Mewman, watching from afar, slowly approached Star, nerves clear as a day on her face. "...Honey...?" _****_Just the mere sound of her voice caused the still-entranced Star to whip her head around to face her, panting loudly & visibly sweating. "You've done more than enough, I think you should go hom-"_**

**_"NO!" Star blared, her face suddenly turning white as a ghost, as if she was crippled by an immeasurable fear. "N-No, I can't! It's not finished yet!"_**

**_"But that's okay, I can do the res-"_**

**_"No, no!" She shouted louder, gritting her teeth. "The queen entrusted me with this job, and I refuse to ever fail the queen again!"_**

**_With her frustrations growing and her mental state slowly spiraling, the woman Mewman chose to back away slowly, completely unsure as to how she should proceed._**

**_[End Flashback]_**

Needless to say, every single one of them was completely horrified upon hearing these revelations, especially Moon, who took it especially hard with how Star referred to as "queen." What could any of them really say to this? "I...I-"

"I'm so sorry, dear. You...threw me for a loop, to say the least. And even if I _knew_ you were sleepwalking...aren't you not supposed to wake up a person who's sleepwalking?"

"The jury's still out on that." Janna remarked. "But, you could've at least...you know, _tried_."

"Wait, Janna," Star stopped her friend. "Don't be too hard on her. She didn't know, and obviously she did try to stop me..."

"Yeah but she still let you work yourself to the bone for who knows how long!"

"It's not _her_ fault I was sleepwalking, was it?" Janna could only shrug. Star sighed defeatedly. "Let's just go-"

"Wait!" The female Mewman yelled again, this time carrying her short legs over to the group while holding a perfectly cooked pie. "Please, take this." Eclipsa stepped forward and took the pie from the woman, suspecting that Star was likely too physically exhausted to be able to hold any with weight at the moment.

"A-Are you sure?"

"I'm truly sorry for your plight, dear. Consider it a thank you for you help the other night. It isn't much b-"

"Oh no no no, please, it's...it's wonderful. Thank you." Star hesitantly but warmly hugged the Mewman. "Really. Thank you."

On that somewhat uplifting note, the group departed & left the Mewman woman to her devices, while they continued along the road, recapping exactly what Star had been up to on her mini-sleewalking spree.

* * *

Further on down, they passed by another house that they would soon learn had major significance in Star's recent actions. This house was also inhabitant by a Mewman - a male Mewman at that - but while the previous Mewman they ran into was a happy camper, this one was decidedly not so. "You there!" The husky, male Mewman shouted towards the group, specifically aiming his ire at Star. "You got some nerve!"

Star remained quiet momentarily, taking time to realize he was talking to her. "...Me?"

"Yeah, you! You got some nerve coming into _my_ house in the dead of night and messing up my house with your fancy...housewarming, cleaning skills and what-not!"

All she could do was stare at him. She had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm sorry...sir...I-I really don't know what you're talking about-"

"Oh don't give me that. You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about!" He barked back in a loud and boisterous voice. Two nights ago I found you in _my_ house, wandering around with a washcloth a-and a mop a-and a duster a-"

"Wait, I was _in_ your house!?" Star exclaimed, horrified. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!"

"You don't know the _meaning_ of sorry! Not yet, anyway!" This Mewman was not in a particularly compromising mood today. But luckily Star had a whole host of friends & family to keep her safe.

"Don't you dare move a step closer to my daughter!" Moon threatened, River also stepping forward.

"I'm warning you, lad! I once took down three bears while blindfolded!" River bragged loudly, earning an impressed smirk from Marco.

"You go, River!" He turned to his girlfriend. "I keep forgetting how much of a tough hombre your Da-"

"The bears were blindfolded, Marco."

And his face fell instantaneously. "Oh. That sounds much less impressive."

"Pumpkin! You swore you'd never tell." River moaned before the angry Mewman got them back on track.

"I ought to call the authorities on you pu-"

"What in the name of corn is going on out here!?" Yelled a high-pitched, equally angry voice coming from behind the male Mewman. Turns out it was the Mewman's wife, who was both upset at her husband for causing a commotion, and delighted to see Star in the picture. "Oh, hello there, deary! I hope you're doing better today."

Talk about a tonal whiplash. "Okay, like somebody better start opening their yaps and tell us what the heck y'all's talking about right now!" Pony Head piped up, agitated as all get out.

"We don't have to take orders from you!" The male Mewman roared to Pony Head. "I already told you what happened!"

"...Did you, though? Did you _really_?" Angie perked up, finally getting a chance to speak up.

"What does your wife have to say about this?" Rafael chimed in, also relishing his rare chance to speak.

"That's not important."

But the wife disagreed; she used her left hand to pinch her husband's neck. What resulted from this was an ear-splitting scream that nearly broke the sound barrier. How did a man of his stature produce a scream that high-pitched & loud? "Give it a moment, his voice'll give out!" She assured them...which only furthered their confusion.

"_Their relationship seems incredibly unhealthy._" Globgor whispered to his lovely wife.

"_I think that's an understatement._" Eclipsa replied back.

Finally the Mewman's screaming died down as his voice gave out, but the woman kept her pinchers on him, as it continued to incapacitate him. "Sorry about that. It's the only way I can calm him down."

"Ma'am..." Star stepped forward, her nerves shooting up once again. "What...happened? You know...with me?"

The woman took a breath, keeping her pinchers on her husband. "It's true, you _were_ in our house two nights ago..."

_**[Flashback]**_

_**It was the dead of night. The male Mewman in question ventured downstairs to discover a sleepwalking Star, standing in the middle of the room, completely entranced. "HEY!" The Mewman shouted, getting her attention. "Who the hell are you!? What are you doing in my house!?"**_

_**Star, even in her trance, didn't know how to answer him. "I...I don't know..." She said with a quiver in her voice. "I...I just know I need to do something...I-I can't let down the queen again. I just can't. P-Please, you have to help me."**_

_**It was at this exact moment that it clicked for him. Everything. He knew who she was. He knew she was sleepwalking. And subsequently, he knew who she was referring to as "the queen." And then he got a rather sinister idea. "Oh, oh that's right. Yeah..." This Mewman in particular was one of the Mewmans who was a part of Mina's new-age Solarian army. And he held a deep resentment towards Star thanks to her surrendering the crown to Eclipsa, an act of treason in his mind. "No I remember now. Yeah the queen, sh-she, uh...she sent you here because she needs you to...clean my house! Y-Yeah, the whole thing, every room! Top to bottom!"**_

_**Star took a quick look around where she was standing. Indeed it was a messy, disorganized place. Not inherently dirty, but still. "A-Are you su-"**_

_**"Don't talk back to me, young lady! You report to me! Or am I gonna have to give the queen a bad report?"**_

_**Star gasped loudly, tears forming in her eyes. "NO!" She shouted loudly. "I'll do what you say. I'll make the queen proud!"**_

_**"You better!"**_

_**Without another spoken word, Star was put right to work. Indeed, as the Mewman demanded, she cleaned the entire house from top to bottom. Every single room. And there were several rooms in the home, some dirtier than others. And just like she did with the pot holes, she allowed herself no time to rest or recoup. It was clean, clean, clean for essentially the entire night. And the Mewman lorded over her like a slave driver the entire time. All the while, his wife sat back in her room and watched in concern from afar, afraid to intervene...**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

And these revelations were enough to make the group sans Star outright infuriated. "So...you mean to tell us..." Marco spoke up, using all of his willpower to avoid snapping. "Your husband _knew_ that Star was sleepwalking. He knew she was vulnerable. And he still took advantage of her anyway?"

"...Yes."

"And where were _you_ throughout all of this!?"

"...I was in the bedroom..._hiding_." She thought she whispered that last word softly enough for nobody to hear her.

"Hiding!? What could you possibly have been hiding from!?" Moon questioned, her own anger rising from the situation. Angie, having read her body language and inflections carefully enough, suspected she knew what was going on, and carefully whispered it into Moon's ear. The woman's eyes lit up in a horrified manner. "Really!? Are you sure?" She had to ask, but Angie nodded. "Well why doesn't she just _leave_?"

"What's the problem, anyway!?" The male Mewman finally spoke again, having wrangled his way out of his wife's pincher grip. "She wanted a little redemption and I gave her a chance, what? She said she couldn't afford to upset _your majesty_ again!"

And once again a wave of guilt consumed Moon.

"That's not the point, jerk! You _knew_ she was vulnerable and you took advantage of her!"

"Y-Yeah, bu-but you know what they say: you're not supposed to wake up a sleepwalker!"

Oh, this again? At least the woman earlier was acting in good faith when practicing this claim. This punk, though? "Even if you _are_ right," Janna began, not one to let obvious malarkey stand when it came to her friends. "You're right for the wrong reasons, and you know it. We know it. Your _wife_ knows it."

"Aww, don't pay not mind to this woman. In any case, _she_-" He pointed aggressively to Star. "Didn't even do a good job! Yeah, the morning after I woke up and I saw there were parts that weren't cleaned a-and oh there was even some damage to our couch! Like she was having a cat fight with it or something."

Star's stomach continued to sink. All this from sleepwalking? "I...guess I must've snapped or something. Must've been exhausted, not thinking clearly..."

"Oh sure, go with _that_ excuse. Sure is a great fallback to explain why you decided to give the throne over to a _Monster Lover_."

There were just some Mewmans out there that would _not_ let that go. None of them really _liked_ or _agreed_ with the decision to do so. But with the information that had come out about Eclipsa and the Magic High Commission's actions, some at least came to an understanding of the decision. But others? Others remained completely undeterred from their hatred of the decision and their resentment of Star over it.

"You know what? Screw this, let's go." Star said flatly as the group turned and started to walk away.

"...Take care, sweetie." The wife said calmly, waving to Star, which earned her her husband's ire. Pray for her...

* * *

The group continued making their way back to the Butterfly castle. At some point Star became too physically exhausted for her legs to continue carrying her, so she hitched a ride on Marco's back. Now she had knowledge of _two_ instances of her sleepwalking turning her to a work-obsessed lunatic, turning the clock emotionally back to when she was still a reckless, irresponsible princess who was one bad move away from St. Olga's. Except Star these days was nowhere near that same princess from a year plus ago.

"You doing okay, honey?" Marco asked his beloved, who remained uncharacteristically quiet while riding on his back. They all chalked it up to her simply being wiped - which she was - but no, if only it were just that.

"I'm embarrassed." She said. "I'm sorry about all the trouble I've caused..._again_." This day full of bombshells and discoveries were not going to do wonders for her mental health.

"Hey, look at it this way: at least you were trying to, you know, _help people_." Marco said in response. "And at least one of your people were grateful for what you were trying to do."

"And you can bet even _more_ people's gonna be groveling at your feet, girl, when they see what you did at the park." Pony Head exclaimed triumphantly, setting off alarm bells in everyone, Star included.

"...at the park?" Star asked, and it was only now that Pony Head realized her mistake.

"Oh shoot! Was I not supposed to say anything!?"

Marco groaned, Janna face-palmed, and the adults all exchanged silent looks. Finally, the boy spoke up again. "Guess we better show her..."

"Show me **_WHAT!?_**"

"Star...do you remember that playground that we were all gonna pitch in to help build in a few weeks?"

Star's heart almost literally stopped. She knew where this was going to go. "...Yeah...?"

"Well..."

* * *

They arrived at the site where said playground was going to be build. And what sight befell their eyes? "You already got a head start." Marco said bluntly. As it turned out, bits and pieces of the playground were already well underway with being built. And _this_ was the activity Star partook in the night prior, culminating three nights of a hellish sleepwalking spree into a back-breaking exercise of labor.

Needless to say, Star was completely dumbfounded. "_I_ did this? All of it!?"

"...yeah..."

"Girl, what in the heck got _into_ you!?" Pony Head lashed out, clearly concerned for her friend's well being. "What would possess your overactive brain to do any of this?!"

"Do I look like I have the answer!?" Star weakly shouted. "I'm just as confused about all of this as you guys are."

"Frankly I think it's a miracle you're even still conscious." Janna stepped forward.

"I concur, dear." Eclipsa agreed. "If what any of those guys said about what you were doing is remotely true, then you pushed yourself just as hard if not harder than you did when you worked for me. And in a fraction of the time."

"All in the name of a political structure that...no longer exists..." Moon sighed, garnering Star's attention.

"Oh no no no, Mom, d-don't worry about that part. I'm sure that was just the scrambled ramblings of a girl running on like 5 minutes of sleep." Star tried desperately to change the subject. But something inside her kept refusing to deny the truth. In every instance, she kept lamenting the prospect of disappointing "the queen." Or...her mother.

"Speaking of which..." Marco intervened. "We should get you home to bed, honey. You pretty much haven't slept in three days."

"The boy's right." Moon insisted rather firmly, approaching her daughter & gently caressing her hair. "I'll make you a nice, piping cut of tea."

"And I'll whip you up cold bowl of ice cream." Marco finished. "We got your back, Star."

The girl tiredly sighed, uncomfortable but grateful for the gestures. A truly deadly combination of emotions. "Thanks, everyone...but wait, what about the park? If I already got a head start in building the thing, isn't everyone going to be bummed out that they'll have, you know, less to do?"

"Or they'll be incredibly grateful to you for lightening their load." Angie reasoned, a logic that everyone mostly accepted. "Let's go home."

* * *

As they all promised, they took Star back to the castle, letting her shower & put on a nice clean pair of sleepwear. Moon made her a hot cup of tea, while Marco made her a chocolate fudge sundae with sprinkles, before everyone left Star alone to sleep for a while. It was a peaceful, quiet sleep at first. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way. The nightmares returned again. Her sleep-grunting was loud & concerning enough for Moon to enter & check up on her a few hours after the fact.

"Star? Honey?" She said as she made her way to the bed, taking a seat at the edge. Now she had herself a front row seat to one of Star's night terrors, a somewhat common occurrence for her ever since her meltdown.

**_[Dream]_**

_**Star found herself hurriedly building the playground that was supposed to be built by everyone. There were several portions of the park already built, but by this point in the dream Star had been hurriedly working for almost 36 hours straight with no rest. She couldn't rest. Not with the queen lauding over her, just waiting for her to screw up so she could reprimand her.**_

_**"Hurry it up already!" The Queen - Star's imaginative stand-in for her mother - shouted angrily. "You're wasting precious time! Everything must be perfect!"**_

_**The weary, exhausted Star turned to The Queen, her eyes red with exhaustion & her body shaking from fatigue. "I-I'm sorry, I...I'm doing my best."**_

_**"Hardly!" The Queen was clenching her fists very tightly. "I should've known trusting ****you**** to do this was a mistake!" She edged herself closer to Star and reached out to grab her by the collar. "Why can't you do anything right!?"  
**_

_**"I-I'm sorry!" Star was nearly hysterical now.**_

_**"You WILL be!" The Queen lifted Star off the ground and tossed her clear across the park, where she crashed into one of the nearby swing sets and slid to the ground. The impact nearly cost her her consciousness, but that did stop The Queen from approaching her again. "All your life you have been nothing but a thorn in our side. A nuisance. A screw-up. Such immaturity from someone who claims to want to rule the kingdom!" She again grabbed Star by the collar, sending the girl into tears. "I should have never granted you the wand! I should have listened to my judgement!"**_

_**"B-But I tried! I really did!" **_

_**"Yes, you did...you tried to ruin everything we've worked for! But don't worry...I'll fix everything so that it never happens ago!" She raised a fist and prepared herself to launch it, right at Star's face...**_

_***SMACK***_

_**[End Dream]**_

_"**AHHHH!**"_ Star screamed loudly and shot right up, her heart racing & her nerves completely shot. She was sweating up a storm & almost delirious. She looked to her side and saw both her mother & boyfriend sitting at the edge of the bed, wrought with worry.

"...Star?" Moon tried to reach out a comforting hand to her, only to have Star pull back in a paranoid manner that one would often see in victims of abuse.

"...I...I'm sorry..." She mustered, struggling not to break out into sobbing. "...I hope I didn't let you down with those jobs that I..."

Seeing her own flesh & blood in this state shattered Moon's heart. The knowledge that she - even unintentionally - played a role in her getting like this broke it even further. She reached out further and tried to hug her daughter, who instantly snapped back to her position & accepted the hug. Eventually Star just broke down & began sobbing into her mother's shoulder, bearing her soul out for her & Marco to see.

"It's alright, sweetheart, it's okay..." She responded, softly cooing her daughter back to a state of calm.

"No it's not..." She lamented, eventually pulling herself out and wiping the tears away. "This isn't okay...I shouldn't be like this..."

"Be like what?"

"You know..._lazy, uneducated, reckless, irresponsible, immature, disobedient..._" These were words often used to describe Star in the past, before she was ever sent to Earth, before the Toffee incidents, before the whole "Star must resolve Monster/Mewman racism" ever was even a thing. Granted, most of those adjectives were somewhat justified given her reckless & rebellious behavior, as well as her disregard for authority. But that Star Butterfly was long gone. Sitting before Moon - past all of the paranoid, depressive shivering - was an intelligent, mature, responsible, level-headed girl that stepped up to the plate more times than she had business doing and serving her kingdom with pride, especially when her mother was out of commission due to being trapped in the Realm of Magic for so long.

"You stop that right now, young lady." Moon said sternly with almost a quiver in her voice. "That young girl is long gone, and in her place has come a vibrant, mature, responsible adult."

Even though Moon has shown since Star's meltdown that she was prepared to step up emotionally & be there for her, her actions & words often took Star by surprise. This was clearly not the same woman that raised her while being strict & somewhat distant. "Do you _really_ see me like that?"

Moon couldn't pretend like she understand what her daughter was going through, what demons were crucifying her mind & playing tricks on her. Still, to hear her ask that question knocked the wind out of her. "Of course I do. And it's all earned."

"Is it, though? Mom, what kind of "responsible adult" goes out and sleepwalks around town, breaking into people's houses o-or disrupting road work o-or breaking into the park to set us back-"

"Star," Marco said firmly, approaching his struggling girlfriend & hugging her tightly. "It's okay."

She loudly groaned and bit her tongue. "I hate when you do that."

"You weren't thinking straight. You _couldn't_ have been for you to push your body past its limit the past three nights doing all of that."

"Or maybe she was..." Moon offered. "Perhaps her intentions and goals were clear, but they were simply..."

"Misguided?" Star shifted her gaze away from her mother. She was too ashamed to look her in the eye any further. "Like how I didn't want to fail "The Queen" again?"

Moon didn't hesitate in giving her daughter another hug. Oh how Star was hurting, both physically & emotionally. "You've never failed me."

Star's eyes shot right open. "...You're kidding, right?"

"Why would I be joking?"

"What about when you first gave me the wand and I burned the castle down in minute one? Or what about all those times I recklessly used magic on Earth for my own selfish or fun needs? Or what about when I lost the Spellbook to Ludo & then you and Dad got in trouble for covering it up? Or that stupid monster party where I tried to unite my people and the monsters? O-Or giving the throne back to Eclipsa while you were stuck in the Realm of Magic? Or deciding on a whim without consulting you that magic just _had_ to be destroyed because Mina was going to kill a lot of innocent monsters & Mewmans? Face it Mom, I _have_ failed you! So many times! I even failed you while I was sleepwalking!"

"No, Star, that's simply not true!"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you _not_ calling me out on my behavior? Mom, you've _seen_ me screw up time after time after time! I've never redeemed myself for my screw ups and yet you keep letting me off the hook!" She buried her head frustratingly into her pillow & groaned again. It was a fun time all around. Marco laid himself down next to her and hugged her, waiting patiently for her to take her head out of the pillow & face him.

"Star," He said sweetly, pecking her lips, which elicited a smile from Moon. "You're doing it again."

Another groan from her. "I know, I know..." She turned back to her mother, more shame consuming her face. "Sorry..."

But Moon wouldn't hear any more self-loathing from her daughter. It was entirely undeserved, and she was determined to get her to see that, evidenced by the hugs & kisses she gave her daughter. "Sweetheart...words can't begin to describe how proud you've made me."

Even in her delirious, depressed state, Star found herself completely dumbfounded. "What?!"

"Yes, it's true, your beginnings were quite...rocky, to say the least. You _were_ quite immature when you started out and your father and I were concerned you were never going to be ready to ascend to the throne when your time came. Your propensity for "fun" and "adventure" overwhelmed your judgement at times when we needed you to hunker down and take your responsibilities seriously. But slowly, that changed. Before our eyes you morphed into a level-headed, responsible young lady that put the weight of her kingdom on her shoulders. You could've returned to Earth with Marco after the tiff with Toffee. But you chose to remain behind. You chose to step up for once and actually serve your kingdom."

"Yeah, hooray for me deciding to do the right thing _once_ in a whopping _15 _years..." Star sarcastically rolled her eyes. The demons in her mind were back with a vengeance.

"It's true that I wasn't very fond of your decision to host that party. I thought it was an irresponsible decision, and I saw it as you reverting back to your old ways. But reflecting back I could not have been more wrong. And I never properly apologized for that misconception. You were also right about Meteora being Eclipsa's rightful daughter. You were right about the Magic High Commission and all of their reprehensible actions. You were right to trust Eclipsa and look past all of the prejudice & bigotry throne her way, and you were right to do what you did to fix the sins of our ancestors and how they wrongfully kicked the monsters out of their homes & stole their land.

"You stepped up in ways that you never should've been obliged to. Fixing those mistakes should not have been your obligation in the first place. But, you decided to make it yours. I can't imagine the physical & emotional toll it's taken on you, but I'll never forgive myself for allowing you to shoulder that burden all by yourself. How can I possibly embrace all of this and _not_ be proud of you?"

She meekly shrugged. "I don't know, but...you could try..."

They shared another hug, Moon hugging tighter than she had ever hugged before. "There is nothing about what you've done that I could possibly be ashamed of. If anyone bears any shame, it's me." Star's eyes went wide again, but Moon continued. "I'm the one that betrayed you and the entire kingdom. I undermined _everything_ you worked so hard to achieve.

Even though the girl internally accepted what her mother was saying as true, she still could not believe that she was hearing it. "Yeah, b-but that's water under the bridge..."

"Is it?" She waited for her daughter to respond, but Star couldn't bring herself to say anything. "It's alright, dear. You can say you've not forgiven me for what I did. I'm an adult, I can handle it-"

"No, but Mom...that's the problem..." Star lamented. "I've forgiven _you_. But I haven't forgiven myself..."

"But why?" Marco chimed in after an extended silence. "You heard your mom. To her, you didn't do anything wrong."

"So then why do I keep insisting that I did? Why am I literally unable to just accept when people are telling me I'm not in the wrong and that I'm a good girl!?" Both Marco and Moon hugged Star this time, allowing the girl to lean on each of their shoulders while she emotionally recovered.

"I know I put a lot of pressure on you to be prim and proper," Moon spoke again. "Threatening you with that hellhole excuse of a reform school didn't help matters."

"I was so scared of not living up to your expectations that when I was first on Earth I started sleep-spelling." Star explained to her. "Marco...really helped me out in trying to curb that, but...I never really got around to fixing _why_ I was sleep-spelling."

"It was me, wasn't it? I was making you nervous." Star weakly nodded, afraid of Moon's next response.

"It's not like I didn't deserve it. I was a hot mess back then and I refused to grow up. It took our kingdom nearly getting destroyed and for magic nearly going away for me to wake up and start being more mature."

"But then it was like a 180 degree flip with you." Marco insisted. "You made all of us proud, _especially_ your mother."

Star looked over again at her mother, as she beamed with pride in her smile & tears in her eyes. There wasn't a drop of doubt in Star's mind: she knew her mother was sincere. But that begged the question: why couldn't she agree with her. "Mom, Marco, I _want_ to believe you guys. I really do. I just don't understand...why I don't...or why you're..."

"Why I'm what?" Moon asked again.

"Mom...you're not acting like you used to." Star was _happy_ that her mother had changed so much, but a small part of her continued to lament that it was an undeserved change. "You're...loving, you're...affectionate, you're...lenient with me. This is _not_ the Mom that raised me for my whole life."

"But...don't you like it?" Marco asked her.

"I _want_ to. I really do, but..." She groaned yet again. "You know what infuriates me? I should be _elated_ that my own mother encouraged me to leave town on a two-week getaway with my boyfriend. I should be _happy_ that my mom is going out of her way to make me comfortable on this "home vacation" that everyone insists that I'm on."

"But you _are_ on a home vacation." Moon further insisted with a smile.

"And why are you so okay with that!? _Why_ are you okay with me being a lazy sack of garbage?"

"Star, you're the farthest thing from lazy. Even on your home vacation, you've gotten yourself two part-time jobs, you're helping set up a brand new Cornball League, you're gonna help us build that new playground..." Marco explained, going into giving her a shoulder rub. "How can you look at all of that and call yourself lazy?"

"What makes you think I have the answer to that question?" Both she and Marco alternated with shrugging before she turned to her mother, who was also rubbing one of Star's shoulders as a sign of solidarity. Why couldn't she get out of her own way and just embrace this? "Mom, can I ask you a question?" Moon nodded. "...Why _did_ you let me go on that getaway with Marco?"

And then the shoulder rub temporarily stopped. "What do you mean?"

"Well it's never been like you to just be so lax with what I do or who I do it with. You were fine with me going on a long trip with Tom after I finally stopped working for Eclipsa, and then you were just okay with Marco whisking me several states out and almost entirely cut off from you and everyone else for two weeks. That's...not like you. Or, at least it wasn't..."

Moon had to bring her daughter in for another embrace. She kept telling herself that things were going to be different with her daughter, and Star so badly wanted to embrace that idea. "It's because I felt you deserved it. Star, I'm still hopeless clueless as to the full extent of the workload you shouldered over the last year. But...it's beyond clear it's taken its toll on you. And I thought it was worrying before..."

"You mean when I smashed that mirror?" Moon nodded solemnly. "I didn't mean to scare you. And I really wasn't trying to commit suicide."

"I know, deary. I know." She gently kissed her daughter's cheek, struggling to hold back tears. "You deserved a reprieve after everything you had been through, and you _still_ deserve a reprieve."

"She's right." Marco stood firm. "You're still on an indefinite home vacation, and nothing is going to change that." They really did mean well. Star knew that. She was grateful that they both felt so strongly about it, especially her once-strict mother.

"I appreciate that, I do. But...what about you, Mom?"

Her mother raised a confused eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yeah, where's _your_ reprieve? You went through a hell of a lot more trauma than I did. _You_ actually lost Grandma to the hands of Toffee! _You_ had to take over the throne permanently! I only had to keep your seat warm. Well, okay, technically I was keeping it warm for Eclipsa, but you get my point. _You_ had it way worse than I did, but I don't see or hear anyone talking about how _you_ need to heal! When is it going to be _your_ turn!?"

"Please, you mustn't think like that. I'm your mother. It's _my_ job to worry about you. It's not your job to worry about me. Not like this..."

"Yeah, but..." Star wiped some tears from her eyes. "You went through actual hardships. All I did was sacrifice some of my personal time & work myself too hard-"

"No, you _stop_ that right now." Moon said sternly, putting a finger gently to Star's lips to quiet her distraught daughter. "Your pain is just as valid as anyone else's. It's not fair to _you_ to compare yourself to me like that. You having a different experience from what I went through in my time does not invalidate what you're going through right now."

Moon's stern but soft lecture was followed by Marco hugging her and smothering her in kisses. "Everyone hurts differently."

"Maybe someone should tell that to that stupid _Mewman..."_ Star angrily muttered, recapping the arrogant, pig-headed Mewman they encountered earlier, the one that blatantly took advantage of Star's sleepwalking & manipulated her with threats of selling her out to "The Queen."

"Don't mind that fool. He has his own self-serving agenda. You were wonderful, sweetheart." Moon continued.

"I was?"

"Yes. You matured into such a wonderful princess. You carried on the Butterfly name admirably. You worked _so_ hard to fix the sins of our past ancestors. I was resistant to the message, but you managed to change a lot of minds & open a lot of hearts. _You_ rose to the occasion and then some, while I turned my own name into a pile of mud..."

"O-Oh, you mean..." Believe it or not, all this time later, and Moon still hadn't forgiven herself for her betrayal. "But Mom, I-I forgave you for that. You helped me destroyed the magic-"

"And that magically nullifies what I did that forced us to take that drastic action?"

"...You haven't forgiven yourself, have you?"

Moon shook her head. "No, and quite frankly...I'm surprised _you_ have."

"Why, though?"

"You pushed yourself so hard trying to make everything right. You finally get your chance to rest and I go ahead & ruin all of it. All because I wanted to free Globgor from his prison..."

Contrary to popular belief, it was Moon that championed to have Globgor released for Eclipsa's coronation. Despite not fully trusting Eclipsa and remaining unsure of Globgor, she considered it a token of good will for Eclipsa _and_ for Star. Unfortunately, with the Magic High Commission hellbent on overthrowing Eclipsa and making Star pay for making a mockery of them by turning the throne over to her, things quickly became extremely complicated. "...I've always wondered: Why _did_ you do that?" Marco asked. "And...what happened with all of that? _Was_ it you that did it, or was that-"

"No, no, it was Rhombulous. He was the only one that actually had the power to free Globgor. Nobody else could control crystals like he did."

"So you convinced him to free Eclipsa's husband."

"But why, though?" Star chimed in.

Moon took a deep breath. "...I didn't fully trust Eclipsa, and I was quite suspicious of her husband. But I couldn't forgive all of the trouble the Commission had wrought because of their actions. Eclipsa at least deserved to have her family with her on her big day. So...I made a deal with Rhombulous. And don't worry, dear, I've already recounted this to Eclipsa..."

"Was that really worth it, though? You were making a deal with a one-track-minded, racist, bigoted jerkface that was part of a group more worried about maintaining the status quo & their power than doing what was right for the kingdom." Marco pointed out. "What did you think would happen?"

"Do you want the truth?" Marco & Star both nodded to Moon. "I...was hoping he would just forget. He was quite the moron while he was around, I thought it would just fall out of mind and it would never come up again."

"But that didn't happen."

"Well, Rhombulous certainly forgot...but Omnitraxus & Hekapoo did not."

"And what was the deal?"

Again, Moon took a deep breath. "When I returned to the Butterfly Castle to collect something, I ran into Mina. That was where she originally proposed that I revive the Solarian army to help take Eclipsa down & destroy the Monster race once and for all."

"...So the deal was that you accept Mina's proposition in exchange for Globgor's release?" Star asked her.

"Correct. Unfortunately, Rhombulous is not only incredibly stupid, but also incredibly short-tempered..."

"Yeah, he and the MHC tried to frame Eclipsa for freeing Globgor from his prison on the day of her coronation. And I almost bought into it..."

"But you _didn't_." Marco reminded her.

"And then they started causing trouble & mayhem _just_ to try to lock them up again..."

"Was you sitting on the sidelines and not interfering also part of their deal?" Marco asked her rather sternly. "You were so worried for Star's safety & well-being, but you didn't actually _do_ anything to help her..." There was no anger in Marco's voice. He was past his anger. It was mostly disappointment, but no ill-will.

"You're right, it was. And I resent myself for agreeing to that condition. But Star handled herself beautifully and held her own. Every moment that day she showed me just how much she had matured & how much I had truly underestimated her."

Star took great pride in giving herself the nickname "The Underestimated," so hearing her own mother validate it brightened her mood drastically. "So...you really _were_ just trying to keep Mina from doing more damage? Right?"

Her mother hesitated this time. She looked away, almost as if she was ashamed of the truth. "I think...I was partially resentful..."

"Of me?" Star interrupted her, now refusing to look her in the eye. "Because this was just another one of my tactics to avoid having to do the hard work of actually running things."

Moon couldn't help herself. She let out a small chuckle. "Well if that _was_ your intention, you certainly failed, didn't you?" Even Star & Marco had to get a laugh out of it. "No, I think...I think I was resentful of how...quickly the kingdom...at least a part of the kingdom..._embraced_ Eclipsa."

"Star worked her cute butt off to make that happen." Marco interjected, beaming with pride...and flirtatious attraction.

"Marcooooo..._not in front of my Mom_." Star playfully pushed back. "But you feel like what you did undermined all of that..." She said back to Moon, who nodded, now with tears flowing right from her eyes.

"I didn't just betray my people, honey. I betrayed _you_, my own flesh & blood. You, who were going to inherit the throne until all of the chaos began. And _you_ had to clean up my mess...just like every generation that came after..." She reached out & hugged Star again, tighter than ever. Star could only reciprocate silently. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart..."

Moon may not have been prone to showing it as much or as badly as Star was, but she still felt just as much pain over everything that had happened as Star did. She just wasn't as much of a cryer as her daughter was. But Star easily recognized the signs that Moon was exhibiting. Overly beating one's self up over past mistakes, refusing to recognize praise, struggling to move forward, depressive episodes...it was all there, just not nearly as strongly with Moon as it was with Star.

"...one day we're all finally going to get over this hump once and for all." Star said calmly, giving her mother a cheek kiss. "We've let the past kill us for way too long. It's easier said than done, but we deserve to give ourselves a break."

"That's right." Marco agreed, patting Star's shoulder as Moon calmed down but tightened her hug. "We didn't cause the hundreds of years of oppression or burned bridges or bigotry, but we're doing our damn best to fix it, and we need to remember that. Nothing gets fixed in one day. As long as we just take it one step - one day - at a time..."

Finally, Moon pulled out of the hug and wiped the remaining tears from her face. "Star, I'll never be able to say this enough, but you have made me _so_ incredibly proud. You are such a mature, level-headed, vibrant young lady and you have a great head on your shoulders."

"Even with the way it is right now?" Star jokingly asked, referring to her severe depression, exhaustion, & PTSD, among _other_ problems she was suffering from.

"Absolutely. What you're going through is an unfortunate byproduct of the unnatural stresses and workloads you took on, but you served your kingdom and your family proudly, and I promise you, we are _forever_ in your debt."

"Mom, I appreciate the sentiment, but please don't put it like that..." She almost begged, which understandably confused her mother. "It makes it sound like you guys all want to act like my servants, a-and I don't want that. I know you're _not_, a-and I know I'm not like that, I just-argh!" She rubbed her eyebrows & forehead furiously, frustrated at her own words & thoughts. "Why am I so stupid sometimes?"

Marco leaned in & lovingly kissed his girlfriend, who smiled once he came out of it. "You're not stupid. You're _sick_. Really sick."

"...I know."

"Star...do you know why you're like this?" Moon had to inquire. Her curiosity was spiking and she was desperate for some - any - way to help her daughter heal.

"No, I don't. B-But please don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for all of it. I'm grateful that you were okay with Marco taking me on a vacation for some rest. I'm grateful that you and the family are insistent on me staying on this "home vacation" arrangement. I'm grateful that you guys want to pay your gratitude to me, I'm grateful you want me to be rewarded for everything I've tried to do. I'll never believe that you guys are wrong or bad for wanting to do that. I don't understand why I'm _so_ tired and _so_ worn down, o-or why my heart is constantly giving me pain. I don't understand _why_ I feel like I constantly deserve to be punished. I don't understand why I _hate_ the person I see in the mirror. I hate her so _much_!" Star was now practically pouring her heart out to her boyfriend & mother, both of whom were ready to emotionally support her however they could.

"Sweetheart...please be honest. Are you...?"

Star gave herself a moment of pause. A dark, deep moment of important contemplation. "...I don't know. I really don't know...if I'm suicidal." How could it be a lie or a truth if even _she_ wasn't sure? "I...I don't _want_ to die. I just...want to stop hurting. I wanna stop hurting myself, I wanna stop hurting the people I love-"

"Star, _stop_. You're _not_ hurting us." Marco tried to reassure her. How badly she wanted to believe him without question.

"You sure?"

He nodded proudly. "And I'm not just saying that either."

"He's right." Moon was quick to take his side. "You're not hurting us. Not even by accident. Every day we have the privilege of having a strong, vibrant, determined young woman in our lives that is hellbent on doing everything she can to make the lives of those around her that want it better. I am _so_ thankful to have you as my daughter, and I will _always_ love you & be proud of you, no matter what you do. That's a mother's promise."

Marco gently tapped her shoulder to get his girlfriend's attention. "Hey, uh...you know my offer's still on the table, right?"

"...Offer?"

"You know, if you ever wanted to go on another getaway: all you have to do is say the word. Doesn't matter what we're doing or busy we are. Just say the word and we're off, wherever you want to go. And don't worry, it wouldn't interfere with anything. You'd _still_ have a home vacation to come back to."

Always considerate, Marco was. Putting her needs first despite his pledges to pull back on that. But at least he wasn't torturing himself this time, thinking he wasn't doing enough for her. "That's sweet, honey. And I promise if I ever _really_ want to go away again, I'll let you know. But I'm fine right now. Honest."

He nodded, humbly accepting her answer & kissing her. "I know you are." He then turned his attention back to Moon. "Hey, you think we should show her?"

Moon gasped, realizing what he was referring to and getting herself excited. "Oh, that's a wonderful idea! I almost forgot all about it."

"...Show me what?"

* * *

So Moon & Marco led Star down to the castle's tapestry room, where in the place of Star's original tapestry sat a new large picture. But it was not a traditional tapestry. Instead...it was a painted mural, looking very similar in content to the original tapestry, but this time Star was holding Marco's hand while having magic shoot out of her right hand. The rest of their families were looking on in the portrait with proud smiles. "...W-What the...I-I don't-"

"I've finally been able to put my painting to good use." Moon smiled.

"I don't understand..."

"Marco relayed to me your dismay at your tapestry not featuring him, so...I've been working to fix that. But instead of a tapestry..."

"It's a painting." Marco finished, while also admiring the painting itself. "And a really _good_ one, I must say."

"Thank you, hon."

Star slowly approached the painting, taking the time to soak it all in. It was a water color painting, and it was _mesmerizing._ Moon had been practicing her painting ever since deciding to take it up as a hobby following the Cleaving. This was her first major painting project and she was proud of it. And she had every reason _to_ be proud of it. Star also took note of the pedestal that was below her painting, the pedestal that hadn't previously been there. Inscribed on the pedestal was the message that Queen Solaria had written on a piece of paper and left on her original tapestry (in my previous fic **When Dimensions Cleave**). "What's this?" She leaned in and started reading the message out loud. "The seeds of hate deflated...at the hands of _Star the Underestimated_. Mom, did you write this?"

Moon shook her head. "No, I didn't. I think that was left behind by Queen Solaria."

"Solari..." Suddenly her mind began flashing back to that entire ordeal: the events that happened right after the Cleaving, the ones that forced them all to confront the MHC once and for all and expose them as the lying traitors they were. "Oh wow..._she_ wrote this. She thought _this_ highly of me?"

"Yes, she did. The painting is now an appropriate compliment to it, and only one symbol of our gratitude for all that you've done."

Star turned slowly to face her mother & boyfriend again. "...How long have you been working on this?"

"Since the Age of Magic properly came to a close."

"And...did-"

"Yes, everyone else knew about this. Even Marco." She beamed proudly at her daughter's boyfriend.

"Do you like it?"

Star stood there silently, internally contemplating her answer. IN a flash, _everything_ came flooding back into her head. All of the good, all of the bad, all of the unknown...all of the questions she had for herself, all of the answers she _didn't_ have...and finally, after some time passed, she began slowly breaking into laughter. "Like it? I love it! It's amazing! Look at this! This is incredible talent, Mom! You...you got this figured out, this whole..._life_ thing, huh!?" And she was making no sense whatsoever. But that was something the two of them would soon realize, as Star's laughter began to go from controlled to uncontrollable. Slowly but surely it then devolved from laughter to a mix of laughter & crying to mostly crying.

Until finally, Star was unable to control herself and completely burst into loud, uncontrollable, hysterical sobbing. Right where she stood, she let the tears explode out of her eyes as her loud, shrill crying echoed throughout the room. She opened her arms out, desperate for any kind of physical interaction. Moon & Marco immediately obliged & dashed over to the sobbing girl as she broke down & collapsed onto her knees. They hugged her & joined her on the ground, allowing her uncontrollable sobbing to spiral as it needed to. Of course it wasn't a pretty sight to see their beloved Star bawling her eyes out like this & repeatedly apologizing for literally no reason. But holding in their emotions for the greater good was a common failure of the monarchy. That was over with. If Star needed to cry - hell, if _any_ of them needed to cry - they were going to cry. In their eyes, it was all part of the healing process.

And yes, while it didn't look like it, Star _was_ and is continuing to heal, day by day. It's painful, but it's necessary. There _was_ a light at the end of the tunnel.

* * *

**End of Episode 17!**

**This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written. Not just for this story but for any story. I hope you all enjoy it, because it was both difficult _and_ fun to write. Our little princess and her loved ones are getting there, slowly but surely.**

**And as always, please read & review! The feedback is greatly appreciated!**


	18. Demontilion

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 18: Demontilion**

**Episode Summary: While Star rests after her sleepwalking escapades, Janna and Tom are introduced to their respective partner's parents, and both are determined to make a good first impression...as well as get over some unfinished humps.**

**Original Release Date: May 22, 2020**

* * *

Following Star's chaotic meltdown in the Tapestry Room, Marco & Moon brought her back up to her room & tucked her back into bed, all nice & cozy. They then returned to the castle kitchen & worked together to whip up a nice, large, hot meal for her. They set it at the side of her bed; while she devoured her meal rather quickly, Marco got onto the bed himself & gave her a quick foot rub. "You didn't have to do this for me..." Star said somberly, but with a faint smile on her face as she took the last bites.

"We know." Was all Marco said as he and Moon again smothered the struggling girl with affection. "We love you, Star."

"I love you guys too. So much..."

"You sleep now. You need to recover your strength after the insanity you went through."

Star was ready to object. "N-No, I can't." She tried to sit up, but her struggling heart had other plans, jolting her with a huge shock of pain forcing her back down. "I can feel it in my bones, if I fall asleep _now_, I'm not waking up until like tomorrow or even a couple of days..."

Marco's smile never wavered. He quietly tucked her under the blankets and gently kissed her soft lips. "Then we'll see you in a couple of days." That was that. And Star knew it. Then again, she knew that they meant well and always would. "And hey, when you _do_ wake up, your mom and I are gonna take you to the mall. You can get _whatever_ you want, no questions asked."

She sheepishly smiled. How could she ever be upset at the adorable, try-hard smile on his face. "Even if I just want to ride around in the cart like a little kid?"

Marco nodded proudly. "Absolutely."

"You know it's not good behavior training to reward a child for throwing a temper tantrum, right?"

He caressed her cheek several times, delivering another kiss in the midst of it. For Star, it wasn't the frequency of her depressive episodes that concerned everyone. It was the severity of them. More often than not, she was good. But when she was bad, she was _really_ bad. "We're not rewarding you for a tantrum. We're supporting someone who's fighting depression. It's different."

"If you say so."

"I do. Think of it as all of us making up for lost time. Love you, baby girl." He leaned in & kissed her once more before tucking her in & fetching her her patented noise-cancelling headphones, sleep mask, & stuffed Marco doll. Absolutely nothing was going to disturb her.

"Wait..." She called out weakly just as they were about to head out. "Mom...would you...would you just apologize to the rest of the family for me?"

Moon & Marco exchanged looks of confusion & concern. "...Apologize for what, dear?"

Star shrugged, almost shedding another tear. "I don't know, just...something? Anything. Please? I...don't think I can face everyone right now..."

Again they exchanged looks, but rather than argue with her, they nodded in silence & played along. Star, in return, laid her head back down on the pillow & relaxed. She didn't even wait for them to leave before she closed her eyes & was out like a light. Moon went off in her own direction, leaving Marco to his own devices.

_Well, since Star's out of commission for the day, I might as well find something to do._ He pulled out his phone. _I wonder if Janna is available to hang out_. Uh oh, Marco must've been desperate. Actively seeking out _Janna_ of all people? Sure, Janna was mostly harmless and he at least appreciated how "out there" she was, but still, she was rarely his first choice. Not like it mattered, anyway. Marco's attempts to call Janna were met with an immediate decline, followed by a text message from her.

'_**can't talk, we're meeting each other's parents.'**_

"...She's meeting Tom's parents? Already?" Marco said to himself. "That was quick."

* * *

Well...not exactly. Janna _wasn't_ meeting Tom's parents. At least, not yet. No, first, Tom was going to meet Janna's parents. It was at Janna's suggestion, as she felt getting her folks acquainted with him first was an easier & less abrasive task than him getting her acquainted with his folks.

"...Ugh, why me..." Janna grumbled, lamenting the text she sent to Marco. "Look at this-" And she showed said text to Tom. "Now he's gonna think things are more serious than they are."

Tom instantly picked up on her nervous attitude. "Hey, don't worry about it. Today's gonna be awesome." He tried to reassure her. "I'm sure your folks are gonna be fine with me."

Janna sighed, putting her phone in her pocket and one-handed face-palming herself. "It's not _my_ folks I'm worried about."

"...What? You mean _mine_?"

"Dude, your mom's a literal demon. Like, a _hell_ demon. _And_ she was absolutely smitten with Star. I am _not_ her by a thousand miles."

"But you don't have to be. Just be _you_. I know they'll like the real you." Janna sighed. Oh how she didn't like that she agreed with him, but what he said made perfect sense to her. "Speaking of Star...is it true? Was she really sleepwalking?"

"Eeeeeyup." Janna responded. "And that's not even half of the story." She was going to say more, but the doorknob started to turn. "I'll explain later." It opened, revealing Janna's mother and father standing there with collected smiles on their faces.

"Oh, Janna!" Her mother said with great enthusiasm. "And you," She turned to Tom. "You must be Tom." Both she and her husband reached out to shake Tom's hand. "Wonderful to meet you. Please, come inside!" They led the two of them into the living room, sitting them down in the chairs and handing them each a cup of tea. "We've been so excited to meet you ever seen Janna told us about you."

Tom curiously looked over at the girl sitting next to him. "You've talked to them about me?"

"Just, you know, casual stuff. Nothing serious, nothing cheesy."

Tom wasn't buying it. "Yeah, _right_." He playfully nudged her arm; she responded with a sarcastic eye roll.

"So is it true?" Mr. Ordonia asked Tom. "Are you...an actual demon?"

Starting off with a big question, right off the bat. "W-Well, I'm...actually a hybrid, s-sir. Half demon, half-human-"

"_Mewman._" Said Janna quickly to correct him.

"Mewman! Right, Mewman."

"But you have all the powers of, like, the devil and everything?" Tom nodded nervously. Where was Mr. Ordonia coming up with these questions.

"I mean..._technically_ yes, but I'm not _that_ kind of devil. Like, I'm not going to reign terror and fire on everyone or whatever."

"Anymore, he means." Janna again interrupted him. Tom nearly leaped out of his seat.

"W-D-J-What do you mean "anymore?"

"Oh come on, Tom. You're not gonna tell them about your _anger issues_?" She said to him with a smug smirk. The half-demon looked like he was stammering. "Yeah, Star used to talk about you _all the time_. And not always in a flattering light."

"Y-Yeah, but that was a long time ago!"

"Of course, but man you should've been here when you guys were still broken up. You were _not_ on good terms with her for a while."

"Star? Is that the young blonde-haired girl that visited earlier this summer?" Mrs. Ordonia asked. "The one that's now dating the Diaz kid?"

"Yep, they're one and the same." Janna turned right back to Tom.

"It's not like I didn't deserve it."

"Oh I'm not saying that, dude. I just think it's funny that she used to trash you, like, all the time, but now she, like, regrets breaking it off or something."

"First off, _I_ broke it off with her. The second time, at least. Second of all, she doesn't regret us breaking up. _At least she shouldn't..._" Sure, under normal circumstances that would be true. But given that Star's mental state at the moment was quite erratic, it was understandable that Tom would doubt the validity of Star's claim that she was completely at peace with how things played out. "Look, I was a really different person back then."

"Different how?" Mrs. Ordonia asked him.

"He was an angry little tyke." Janna teased, playfully nudging Tom's arm. Janna and her parents were amused; Tom wasn't.

"You guys laugh, but you're not wrong. I was...I was pretty bad for a while. I was angry, short-tempered, ultra possessive of Star...gah, I don't even know what I was thinking half the time. Heck, even when I got back together with her, it was...not for the right reasons. At least at first. I just wanted to prove - I guess to her and to myself - that I could win her back. And she _did_ help me realize that I needed to change for me."

"Yeah, but that's in the past now. You always gotta look & move forward. If you get hung up on your past actions, you can't ever move on." If only someone could stamp that onto Star's forehead.

"So now, why our daughter?" Mr. Ordonia asked. It was time for him to play somewhat-but-not-brutally-overprotective dad. "We love Janna with all our heart, but...she isn't exactly what we would call the "affectionate" type."

Expecting some sort of retaliatory reaction from Janna for that response, Tom was surprised to see Janna play it off in a rather calm fashion. "What? He's not wrong. I'm not all doom & gloom like those goths or emos or whatever. I'm just not affectionate in the ways of someone like Star. I'll a lot more laid back and I like taking things like this a little more slow, more easy-going. Much less pressure that way."

Tom gave off a half-smile. "Actually, I think that just answered his question."

She gave off two silent blinks. "Huh?"

"There's no pressure here. It's just...us being chill and calm. There was never a time like that with Star. Either I was getting in my own trying to be "best boyfriend" to her and not feeling comfortable about it at all, or she was too busy trying to settle the political chaos surrounding her kingdom and her people and barely had time for me, and I got frustrated over that. But there's none of that here."

"Ooh, you're probably going to regret saying that in the future. I'm gonna run for _President_ one day." She gave off a smug wink his way. Tom tried to play it off as a joke, loudly laughing in an exaggerated manner. He even looked over to Janna's parents in the hopes they would join in. But they did not. "W-Wow, she's...she's serious?"

"When she was a little girl, she dressed up as both Bush & Bush Jr. for Halloween."

And here as yet another example of non-Earth people not understanding Earth culture or lingo. "...she dressed up as shrubs?"

"Oh my god, dude, READ_**. **A FREAKING**. BOOK!" **_Janna roared out of the blue before burying her head in her hands. "Sorry, sorry, I just...I don't have any patience for stupidity or ignorance."

"And yet you want to go into "politics?" What he lacked in knowledge Tom more than made up for in witty comebacks. Luckily for him Janna's parents were good sports & laughed along with him. Sure, Janna was embarrassed at the moment, but hey, at least her parents were warming up to him.

* * *

Another couple of hours passed full of witty banter & lighthearted conversation, as well as some more tea & finger foods. The meeting, for the most part, went well. Despite a couple of hiccups, both with Janna's parents being parents & slightly intruding on his private life _and_ Tom fumbling the ball on occasion & making his anger issues a bit of an issue, the Ordonias left with a positive impression of him & made it known to him that, if he wanted to date Janna, he had their blessing. So it was a good start. They were halfway there. Now all they needed to do was get Tom's parents to like Janna.

After their meeting, Tom whipped up a portal & took Janna to his folks' lake house, where they were spending much of their Summer time. Just as Tom was about to knock on the door of the lake house, he noticed that Janna had fallen behind, nervously checking out the surroundings around her in an effort to distract herself. This was the meeting she was most afraid of. Her parents were easy. Tom's parents, though? There was a ton of baggage there that Janna felt like she had to overcome just to have a chance of making a good impression on them.

"Hey, it's okay." He said, hopeful that he'd calm her nerves. "My parents are harmless. My mother's _such_ a teddy bear."

Janna hesitated; much as she had that cool, chill front she put on, she wanted to make a great first impression on them. "If you say so."

"Trust me on this one. I have a good feeling about it." He knocked on the door and waited patiently. The door slowly swung open, revealing Tom's parents, father Dave Lucitor and mother Wrathmeilor Lucitor. "Hello there, Tom!" Dave caught an eye of his guest. "And you must be _Janna_. Please, come in. We've heard wonderful things about you."

This was already a good sign. So the two of them were led into the living room where Tom's great-grandfather, Relicor, was also waiting for them, doing his own thing & barely paying attention as the four of them settled themselves around on the couches. This was going to be Relicor's routine for the duration of their stay.

"Nice place..." Janna said out loud, taking in the scenery before her. Even for just a summer home it was incredibly pleasant to look at.

"We spend a lot of time here," Dave said to them after going into the kitchen & returning with two glasses of lemonade for the teens. "Great view, _and_ great lava."

"That's _actual_ lava? Not, like, fake lava to scare any visitors or rowdy tourists?"

Dave and Wrathmeilor shared a laugh together. "Oh Janna, we don't get tourists down here. They can't handle the heat the way _we_ can." And he finished off his response with a subtle wink towards his own son, who had to bury his face in his hand out of shame while Janna took pleasure in his discomfort. "So, Janna...this is, uh...this is quite the surprise, I must say." It was obvious that Dave was a little bit uneasy about the whole situation. Deep in his heart he was hoping it would work out between Tom and Star. Alas, it was not to be. "I'm sorry, I suppose I'm still a little disappointed it didn't work with Star."

"Don't worry about her, she's in good hands now." Janna said rather calmly.

"Right, right, of course. She's now going out with that Marco kid. Seems like a nice young lad. Have you-"

"I'll stop you now. No, the Diaz kid and I have never dated."

"I've never dated him either." Tom interjected, feeling the need to do so for some reason. Even Janna had to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Um...nobody was thinking you had." It was _only_ after Janna said this that Tom realized he ran his mouth & covered it in embarrassment. But by then it was too late. "...Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"W-D-J-Oh shut up!" He shouted, looking away with a steaming red face.

"You're the one that opened the door." Janna & Dave were laughing at Tom's misfortune. But Wrathmeilor kept surprisingly quiet during this time. "Yeah...Star's in good hands with that dork."

Suddenly, Wrathmeilor decided it was her turn to chime in, as always with her signature, incomprehensible growling. "[So how did you and my baby boy meet?]"

"I just happened to show up on Mewni one day through a portal to that world of pure magic or whatever that lived underneath my favorite taco place. Demon Man here was completely beside himself because Star was too busy being political, so we kinda just hung out that day." Janna explained. The explanation itself was perfectly conveyed; what stunned Tom and Dave was that Janna understood her completely, without any hesitation. Usually, there was a steep learning curve in terms of comprehension. But not for Janna.

"...You understood her?!" Tom asked in total bewilderment.

"You don't know _everything_ about me." Was her response to that.

"Clearly I don't! W-When did that happen?"

"You don't know _everything_ about me. I went and read a book about it; it was right after the whole Severing Stone thing with Star & Marco. You remember that, right?"

"...Yeah, I remember. That was when Star & Marco broke the Blood Moon curse."

Tom's answer elicited a laugh from his father. "Blood Moon-oh, Tom, dear sweet Tom...the Blood Moon curse isn't real."

Uh oh. Talk about a bombshell. "It's...It's not?" Tom, Star, and Marco all independently came to that conclusion themselves given how the events of their relationship played out, but it was always mere speculation. Nothing even remotely concrete that the curse wasn't real until now. And apparently Dave himself was an expert on the subject matter.

"No! That whole spiel about two souls being bonded to each other for all of eternity? It's a crock. There's nothing special about the "Blood Moon," and there never was."

"So...what is it, then?"

"[It's an Eclipse.]" Wrathmeilor growled. "[Every 667 years one of Mewni's many moons - Sergelion - crosses paths with our normal moon, creating a red overfade, or what's commonly known as the Blood Moon.]"

"It's _just_ an eclipse?!" Janna barked, now annoyed. She turned to Tom. "Did _you_ know that?"

"What? No!" Tom yelled back, now turning to his parents. "Are you serious about that!?" Both Dave and Wrathmeilor nodded. "B-But the whole reason I even put so much trouble into the Blood Moon Ball in the first place was because I thought my soul bonding with Star's soul would get us back together, you know, romantically. And now you're saying it was all for nothing!? And you _knew_ this the whole time!? Why didn't you say anything?"

His father took a deep breath. "Tom, son, I'm going to be level with you. When Star broke it off with you the first time, you didn't take it well."

"In other news, water is wet." Janna interjected, earning a scowl from Tom and a laugh from Wrathmeilor.

"When the Blood Moon Ball came up, your mother and I decided...that it was better for you to learn on your own the fruits of disappointment...obviously it didn't pan out exactly the way we thought it might've."

"That's an understatement."

"But look at it this way: at least you didn't lose out on anything, either."

"Okay, so I have a question." Janna raised her hands, now fully engrossed in this conversation. "If the Blood Moon didn't actually, like, _do_ anything to Star and Marco, then...does that mean the Severing Stone didn't actually have any effect on them?"

"If the intention was to quote unquote "break the curse," then yes, that makes sense."

A moment of uncomfortable and confused silence passed before Janna spoke again. "No, no it doesn't. None of this makes a lick of sense! Then again, half the stuff that I've seen ever since Star crashed into our lives doesn't make a lick of sense, so this fits right in."

Wrathmeilor began to softly growl to herself. She was not in the mood for any bad-talking of Star, no matter what her feelings about her were. Yes, Tom's mother's feelings about Star were conflicted. She was still a bit sour over the time Star waffled on telling Tom that he and Marco had kissed in the photo booth. But she was still fond over the former magical princess, even more so after her meltdown during the Magic High Commission's attempted comeback/coup of Earthni. But still, her son's happiness came first, and in her eyes, happiness meant being with Star. She needed some convincing with Janna.

"So Janna...why Tom?" Dave asked Janna straight. "Why our son?"

Now we were at the somewhat serious questions. Janna stayed momentarily silent, internally constructing her answer. It was a pretty important answer too. You don't just start "dating" someone or even consider "dating" someone just for the heck of it. "To be honest, I'm just kind of a sucker for all things supernatural. Tom's got some really cool Demon powers that intrigue me, he's...pretty chill - when he's not try-hard crazy - and it was pretty fun that day out we spent together." She had on her face a very small but noticeable smile. "Look, I'm not the most affectionate person out there. You're not gonna see me wanting to cozy up and cuddle too often or even talking baby talk like how Star & Marco do all the time. But I'm not cold. There _is_ a little depth to me. Just...be patient with me, let me open up at my pace, and...hopefully you like the real Janna."

It appeared that both Dave and Wrathmeilor were listening intently to Janna's spiel, and both found themselves mostly agreeing with what she had to say, though Warthmeilor was still visibly restrained. She wasn't outright dismissing Janna or even responding in a harsh or coarse manner, but it was clear that she was still not completely invested emotionally in this pairing, something which Janna easily picked up on. "Uh, h-how's about Janna and I go whip something up in the kitchen?" Tom spouted out quickly, grabbing Janna's hand and leading her into the kitchen for a private talk.

"Okay, I hate to say this, but..." Janna started once they were sure they were out of earshot. "I don't think your mom likes me."

Tom glanced over at his mother. She looked towards them in the kitchen and gave off a short wave with somewhat of a forced smile on her face. She didn't _want_ to be the bad guy here. She didn't want to just dash their dreams of possibly having a relationship just because she still had a soft spot for Star. "She doesn't hate you," Tom reassured him. "Really, she likes you. I mean...she _wants_ to like you."

"But she doesn't," She lamented, sighing and looking away from Wrathmeilor. The demon mother knew she wasn't making a good impression on Janna. "Because I'm not Star."

"But that's not your fault, and she knows that."

"...Does she, though? Because it doesn't feel like she does." She looked over at Wrathmeilor once again, who this time took it upon herself to look away. One could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Fitting, seeing as they were in a kitchen.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on Earthni, Star found herself completely unable to fall asleep despite having literally no distractions plus the benefit of her sleep mask & noise-cancelling headphones. The girl tossed and turned like it was nobody's business until eventually she decided to give up. She sat up in frustrated, throwing her headphones & mask off, revealing tired, sunken, bloodshot eyes. She _badly_ needed to recover from her three nights of sleep-helping, but for the life of her, her body was not cooperating. "UGH!" She shouted in frustration. "What the heck is wrong with me!?" At her wit's end, she took out her new phone and started texting someone. "Maybe Janna can help. She's good with supernatural stuff, and it feels like I need a supernatural cure right about now..."

But Janna's response surprised her. '**_Sorry, can't talk. Meeting the parents. Not going well._**' Despite the incredibly vague nature of her response, Star immediately put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Wooooow, that was fast." She said to herself. "Oh, I hope it goes well for her." Some thoughts began to race through her already exhausted brain. "If it's not going well, then that means they're at the lake house. Janna's parents would totally love Tom, but Tom's parents...ugh, I know his mom has a soft spot for be, but I hope she gives her a chance. Hmm..."

She leaped out of her bed and - after steadying herself from the room spinning - made her way to her closet, where she pulled out the dimension ray-gun device - the one made by Tom's father - and used it to open a portal, a portal leading straight to the lake house. It was an aerial portal, unfortunately - because at this point physics was just a suggestion and not a rule - which gave her a great view of everything that was going on...most of it negative, with Janna pacing around the kitchen contemplating simply leaving.

"Wait, you can't leave yet!" Tom pleaded, getting out in front of Janna to stop her from going. "My dad hasn't made us his special "first meeting dessert" yet. It's a patented spicy, peppery souffle. It'll mess up your intestines, but it'll light your taste buds up like fireworks!"

She looked over at Dave, who gave her an encouraging thumbs up. Then she looked over at Wrathmeilor, who tried to give an equally encouraging thumbs-up, but it was obvious she was trying to force it. "No, that's alright. It's probably better that I go-"

"[No, you can't go!]" Wrathmeilor shouted, standing up in a huff. "[Please don't leave!]"

"...do you _really_ want me to stay?"

Wrathmeilor nodded, clasping her hands together with her nerves shot. "[Don't leave because of me.]"

Janna rubbed her eyes in frustration. "I'm sorry...I just get the impression you...don't like me that much. Look, I know you love Star. So do I..." She turned to Tom quickly. "_Not like that._" And then back to his mother. "She's awesome. But I'm not her. I don't have her infectious personality. I can't make friends as easily as she can. And I definitely am not a player the way _she_ is. Seems like guys _and_ girls just gravitate to her. I'm just...Janna."

"_**AND YOU'RE THE COOLEST JANNA I KNOW**__!"_

Everyone in the room had to stop in their tracks for a brief moment. Where did that voice come from? Who said that? Well, they were about to get their answer. They all looked up towards the ceiling and saw none other than Star herself poking her weary head through the portal she had made on the other side. She sheepishly waved to everyone, all expressing different levels of shock at seeing her.

"[Star!?]" Wrathmeilor was the first to speak, a mixture of joy in seeing her and confusion in what was happening evident in her voice. Star took a leap out of the portal and landed hard on the ground, the ray gun landing right next to her and somehow not breaking on impact. Unfortunately, the device still wasn't perfected, which meant mishaps like this were inevitable. Luckily, she wasn't hurt, only dazed. Everyone rushed over to help Star up.

"You alright?!" Tom asked in a huff.

"Yeah yeah yeah totally _totally_ I'm...I'm just dizzy that was...that was a fall." She was able to regain her senses quickly enough to face Dave & Wrathmeilor. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Lucitor..."

"What brings you here?" Dave asked her point blank.

"Well, it's...a long story, and I really don't wanna get into it, but...I overheard you and Mrs. Lucitor talking." She turned shyly to Wrathmeilor, who continued to permeate a look of guilt on her face. "Hi. Sorry to...drop in like this..." She was going in and out of fatigue, eyes drooping, face going pale, the works. She was heavily feeling the effects of her sleepwalking adventures, and having not fully slept for the past few nights wasn't helping.

"Jeez, man, you look like hell..." Janna remarked, visibly concern palpable on her face.

"Noooooo no no no I'm _fine_ I'm okay...sort of...not really, but I can't _sleeeeep_..." She said before trying to get herself awake again. "But that's not important. What's important is _you_ guys," She said referring to Tom & Janna. "You guys are the stars here." She gave off a warm smile, almost as if she was silently giving Tom her blessing to give himself a chance with her. She then turned back to his mother. "Mrs. Lucitor...are you still disappointed that Tom and I didn't work out?"

At first Wrathmeilor feigned outrage at the accusation. How could she ask such a question. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized there was merit to it. Considering the way she's been their whole visit - emotionally distant & reserved - and unable to fully embrace Janna as Tom's new partner, she couldn't keep up any notion of a lie. "[Yes.]" She finally answered.

"She said yes." Janna interjected.

"Yeah I know, I heard her. B-wait..." Oh that's right: Star didn't know Janna could understand demon. "You understood her!?"

"We've kinda been through this already. You're late." Tom fired back in a rather monotone nature, forcing a genuine laugh out of Janna.

"But how, wh-you know what, it's not important." And back to Wrathmeilor. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. I know how much Tom tried to change to be a better person & prove himself to me."

"He did." Dave agreed. "His mother and I couldn't believe the hoops he tried to jump through just to make it work, but then you-" And not a second later, he covered his mouth. He was not about to drudge up old habits. But Star - despite her incredible exhaustion - was clear of mind & willing to tackle this head on.

"Yeah...this time _I_ was the weak link."

"Star-" Tom tried to stop her, but a reassuring smile from Star quieted him down. She was not overly hysterical or emotionally fragile. Yes, she was self-loathing, but nowhere near the extremes she was experiencing all summer long.

"It was just everything. I wanted to be a better princess, so I had to devote a lot of time & energy to the political game, which meant I didn't get to spend as much time with Tom as he deserved or even I wanted to. Plus, my idiotic _refusal_ to address my own feelings for Marco made things a lot worse. If I had just sat down and talked things out with both of them, maybe things would've turned out different. But, in a weird way, I'm glad things are the way they are. It's nothing against Tom at all. I'm just so much more comfortable around Marco. I can be the _real_ me around him. There's no pressure, there's no expectations...well, at least none coming from _him_. Marco is my best friend. That's...just a role Tom could never fill, but it's not because he didn't try."

She walked over to Tom & Janna, extending a hug to the two of them. "But please, Mrs. Lucitor...don't take it out on Janna. Janna is _amazing_. She's loves all things macabre & demon-related, she's a lovable troublemaker, she has _awesome_ fashion choices..."

"I think you're confusing me with someone else..." Janna lightly joked.

"I'm telling you, Tom is in much better hands with Janna than he ever was with me. Janna might not be super affectionate like how Marco and I are with each other..."

"TMI, girl."

"Oh come on, that could've meant anything." Tom argued, drawing Janna to stick her tongue out at him.

"But she brings out the best in him. And he'll bring out the best in _her_." Wrathmeilor had to stop herself from shedding a tear. It was inspiring to see her go to bat for her friends so strongly. Star may have internal regrets over how the end of her relationship with Tom played out, but she was dead set in her belief that them splitting was exactly what needed to happen for both of them to find the happiness they sought. "And don't let your recency bias skew your memory, Mrs. Lucitor..."

"_How the heck does she know what that means!?" _Janna whispered in a baffled tone.

"Or have you forgotten that _you_ didn't like _me_ all that much either when Tom and I were going out for the first time." Wrathmeilor growled a confused grunt. "Yeah, you weren't too keen on me. I don't remember exactly why, but it took you a while to warm up to me. But you finally did, and I'm so grateful for that." Tom's mother smiled again, letting out grunts of gratitude towards Star. "It's the same thing here, just with a different Janna. I'm not saying you have to embrace Janna with open arms, it's okay to be a little skeptical and to want to be reassured that your son is in the best hands possible. All I'm asking is that you give her a fair chance. The same chance you gave _me_."

Everything Star said made perfect sense to Tom's parents. Without even exchanging a word, they both looked at each other & shared with each other a private conversation. This freed up Star, Janna, & Tom to talk amongst themselves.

"Hey, kid...thanks for going to bat for me." Janna said to Star, clearly grateful for the gesture. "You didn't have to do that for us."

She shrugged & looked away briefly. "It wasn't just for you. It...it was for me, also." She turned to Janna and reached her arms out, meeting her halfway for a big hug. Janna returned the gesture despite her reserved affectionate ways. "You're going to _love_ Tom I know I do..." When they parted, she went over to Tom & gave him a hug as well. "And _you_ are going to _love_ Janna. She's _wonderful_..."

Who knew that Janna would be so grateful for Star's gesture? She didn't _have_ to go to bat for them against Tom's parents, especially since she knew just how much Wrathmeilor loved her. But she did. "Thanks, kid. That was..that was bold." Janna said rather nervously.

A visibly dizzy Star looked up at Tom, a smile on her face and exhausted, red eyes brimming with closure. "Baloo-balee, baloo-balow...I let you go, I let you go..."

Both Janna and Tom exchanged looks of confusion with each other, but before they could go any further, they took note of the consistent rising & falling of Star's chest, the fact that her body had gone mostly limp, _and_ the fact that Tom's shirt was starting to get damp, and the answer was quite obvious: Star had fallen asleep on his shoulder. And she was not going to be waking up for a while. "Uh...Janna...could you go grab that ray gun thing and shoot a portal back to her room?"

It took a moment for Janna to come to her senses as well, realizing she was out cold. "Y-Yeah, on it." She acquiesced, retrieving the portal gun, then firing it. A portal leading right back to Star's room revealed itself. "We'll be right back," Tom told his parents, as he & Janna stepped through the portal, returning to Star's room, and gently tucked her back into bed, setting her up with her sleep mask, headphones, _and_ Marco doll. "I guess she'll be out of commission for a while."

"Really, it's for the best. If you had been here when we finally stopped her sleepwalking, you'd understand." Janna responded, patting the demon's shoulder.

"I'd rather be in the dark about that."

Janna shrugged. "Your loss. Come on, let's go back." She didn't even take a full step towards the still-open portal before Tom intervened.

"Wait, you _want_ to go back? Are you sure?"

She turned to face him, a slow smile crawling on her face. "Yeah. Look, even if your mom gives me a shot, maybe she still won't like me. But Star going to bat for me of all people? I'm sure that counts for something, doesn't it?"

Her logic was sound. "Alright, let's go for it." He too started for the portal only to stop right before entering. He turned to look back at the peacefully sleeping Star. "Um...give me a minute?" Janna nodded, and Tom returned to the bed. He took a moment to watch her peacefully slumber. There was no way she was coming out of this sleep for some time, but didn't matter to him. He gently kissed Star's forehead & caressed her hair. For the first time since their actual break up, it truly felt like their romantic relationship was over. But now, at least, it was on the best possible terms. "_Baloo-balee, baloo-balow...I let you go, I let you go._" And now his half of it was over. Triumphantly, he returned to the portal, where Janna was still standing with one foot through it. What was a triumph for him was just a bunch of confusion for Janna.

"What the heck does that even mean?" She asked him point blank.

"I have no idea, but if it's important to her, it's important to me!"

* * *

**End of Episode 18!**

**Yeah another shorter installment but I am proud of this one. I _really_ want to write some Janna/Tom stuff, but it's difficult to do. Janna isn't a character that strikes me as mushy-gushy like Star or Marco would be, but she's perfectly capable of being a great companion.**

**I wanna give a quick shout-out to KPRS4ever, a great friend in the Star vs community. This is coming out the day before _or_ the day or the 1-year anniversary of her fanfic "When Two Worlds Collide," which served as a big inspiration for me embarking on this epic journey that started with "When Dimensions Cleave." She has a discord server dedicated to her fic, which is in the link located on her twitter profile. Seriously she's awesome.**

**Of course I also hope you'll stick around for my fic too, because it's nowhere near finished. If I've come this far, then I see myself as in it for the long haul.**

**In any case, don't forget to read & review! :)**


	19. Mandated Epiphany

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 19: Mandated Epiphany**

**Episode Summary: Star aims to take advantage of a rare clear-headed day for her & attempt to give back to people around Earthni who have also been shaken by the events that led to the Cleaving.**

**Original Release Date: June 1, 2020**

* * *

As it turned out, Star did, in fact, sleep far longer than she had hoped to after her meltdown: over 18 hours to be exact. Once she went back to sleep following her talk with Janna & Tom, that was it for her. Of course, it wasn't like anyone from her family was complaining. It was all part of the healing process. But when Star finally did awaken, she felt a brief moment of disgust with herself. She checked her phone just to double check, which only confirmed her suspicions. It was 8:00 AM the following morning. "Oh just _wonderful_..." She said to himself in an annoyed tone. But she decided that it was a necessary evil and that it wasn't worth the headache to actually get upset over it.

So instead of fretting, she decided to roll with it. And as soon as she got out of bed, she set up her little TV system, putting in a DVD and pressing play on her remote. The DVD in question was a yoga DVD. She put down a yoga mat on the floor in front of the TV, and within moments, she was in the middle of intricate, soothing yoga poses. Said yoga poses included the Extended Triangle Pose, the Big Toe Pose, and the Tree Pose. It was the latter pose that she was in the middle of when Marco & Moon made themselves known, knocking on her door.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Marco said in a sing-song tone, eliciting a chuckle from his girlfriend.

"Don't call me that, please." She slightly joked. "I'd prefer not to be reminded that I just spent nearly a full day sleeping."

"Hey, you obviously needed it. You look so much better today..." Of course that was his word choice just as she was entering the Downward-Facing Dog Pose. The irony was not lost on any of them, even Moon. "I-I mean you look well rested."

"Sure, that's _totally_ what you meant." Star winked at him. Her lust to tease him was just as strong as ever. "Well, I do _feel_ better today. That sleepwalking stuff seriously took a lot out of me. But I'm so much better now."

"Are you sure, dear?" Moon asked; it was time for her to learn about yet another Earth tradition. "That looks...a tad painful."

"Actually, it's not." Star responded, adjusting her position to both maximize the efforts of the pose _and_ to entire Marco. "I'm feeling super relaxed & flexible doing this."

"Really? Well...what _is_ this anyway?"

"It's called Yoga." Marco began to explain. "The simple explanation is it's a form of discipline that involves breathing techniques, meditation, and exercise to achieve peace within the body, mind, and spirit." He turned back to Star. "I didn't know you were into this."

"Ms. Cher recommended it to me in one of my sessions. I haven't gotten around to doing it regularly, but you know what? That's about to change."

"And you're _certain_ this isn't harmful?" Moon had to ask again, motherly instincts and all that.

"If it's done right, the benefits are astronomical. Yoga's all about calmness, harmony-"

"Yoga pants." Star slipped in slyly.

"Yoga pa-wait, what!? Star!?" And now Marco found himself going red in the face. "Come on!"

"Come on yourself. You _know_ I'm right."

He groaned, but playfully so. "Star, please, you know how hard I try to not be one of those guys that just aimlessly stares at your butt."

She paused, then stood up and turned to him, hands on her hips with a playful smirk on her face. "Stares at my _what_, Mr. Diaz?" Oh no, he was in too deep. Unfortunately, there was no going back for him.

He sighed. "...Stares at your _bubble butt_."

"Attaboy!" She applauded him for his effort as she went into the Warrior II Pose. She was still too determined to make the nickname "Bubble Butt" a regular part of his vocabulary. "Sorry we couldn't have our normal routine last night. I promise I'll make it up to you tonight. My prize will be _all yours_." She gently swayed her hips in a flirtatious manner, setting him off even harder. Moon, of all people, was amused by this display, noting the boy embarrassingly hiding in his red hoodie. She gently patted the boy's shoulder.

"A worthy prize for a worthy knight." Was Moon's response to the exchange, a response that Star wasn't prepared for as it almost made her fall out of her pose.

"W-D-M-MOM!" And now it was her turn to have a red face. "_You're_ not supposed to encourage him!"

"Oh, _now_ you're embarrassed?" And Marco was reveling in her embarrassment. But it was always in good fun, evidenced by the raucous laughter the two of them shared as Star turned off her TV and embraced both her boyfriend & her mother. "So, your Mom and I wanted to take you to the mall today as a treat - you know, for the whole sleepwalking thing, and also just because - but if you're not up for that, we could-"

"Um...actually..." She interrupted him, blushing slightly and looking away. "Could we, like, just...go out together and...hang out? Explore Echo Creek and spend time together?"

Both Moon & Marco exchanged a silent look before nodding in approval. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." Moon spoke out. "We could all use a day out together."

"We can get started right after breakfast, if that's okay?"

"Or we can just _start_ with breakfast!" Marco intervened. "Don't you know what today is?"

"Y-Yeah, it's the last day of the m-OH IT'S THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH!"

"That's right!" He turned back to the confused former queen. "The last day of every month the Diazes go out to Paul Bunyen's for an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. It's a new family tradition!" And then back to Star. "And guess what? Your whole family's gonna join us."

"Everyone?"

"Yup! I-If that's okay..."

"Okay!? It's **_PERFECT_**!" She was elated. One of her biggest fears was always that her family would be apprehensive about accepting Marco's family for their culture & their personality. Little by little, that fear was proving to be wrong. "I am _so_ ready to get going!" She was one millisecond away from sprinting out of the room before being stopped by her loving boyfriend.

"Whoa ho ho hold on there, cowgirl! Before we go anywhere..." He picked up the stuffed Marco doll on her bed. "For good luck."

Star briefly studied the doll before a light bulb went off in her head. "Actually, Marco...could we trade for today? Could I take the stuffed Star doll instead?"

Marco and Moon both exchanged looks with each other, but ultimately Marco agreed. He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the stuffed Star doll he had, exchanging it with the stuffed Marco doll. "Better?"

She nodded. "Better."

"Oh, one more thing!" He raced over to the closest and pulled something out: it was the crown that Marco had gotten for Star as a gift, the one with the heartwarming message that she opened up on their getaway. He returned to Star and offered it to her. "Your crown, my queen..." For once, she smiled at the gesture instead of wincing, though there was still evidence of discomfort on her face. "Please?"

But as always, she _was_ touched by the gesture, and this time she felt like playing along. So she took the crown and gently placed it on her head. "How does it look?"

Both Marco & Moon couldn't help themselves; they had no chance of containing their proud smiles. "It looks _wonderful_ on you, dear." Moon answered.

"Aww, thanks M-_**WHOA**__!"_ And Moon followed up Marco's gesture by gently picking her up off the ground and holding her in her arms, close to her body, like she was still a little kid. The proud smile on her face spoke volumes.

"This brings back so many memories." Moon gleamed, her smile growing wider as her bright eyes laid themselves on her daughter.

"Is this going to be another "Spoil Star Silly" day?" Star asked curiously, putting on a warm front for them.

"No, no, we're not going to spoil you "silly." We're just going to spoil you..._a little_...okay maybe a lot." Marco tried to reassured her, but he just couldn't hide how much he looked forward to getting to spoil her silly. He knew she wanted to love the special treatment. She knew she wanted to love the special treatment. She just wanted to feel like she "earned it," even though in their eyes, her year-long tireless work as monster ambassador more than justified it and every bit of praise & affection that came before & will come after. And now they could even use her sleep-helping behavior as justification to spoil her. "I'm sorry, Star. But you know me. Spoiling you is just so much fun."

She shook her head and sighed, a warm smile crossing her face. "...Thanks for putting up with me for so long." She said a tad somberly, still keeping her smile. "I'm getting there."

"Yes you are, dear. And we are forever proud of you. Let's go grab everyone and shove off."

"Uh, w-wait!" Marco called out. "Shouldn't we let Star get out of her pajamas first?"

Oh, that would help. Star was still in her sleepwear. Moon carefully put her down and patted her head, slightly embarrassed. "Just meet us downstairs when you're ready, deary."

* * *

Once Star was dressed - today she chose to wear her Narwhal Dress _as well as_ her Devil Horns headband - the Butterfly family - including baby Meteora - and the Diaz family - including baby Mariposa - all set out to Paul Bunyen's for a huge all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. They got two tables next to each other; one hosted Star, Marco, Eclipsa, & Globgor (plus baby Meteora), while the other hosted Angie, Rafael, Moon, & River (plus baby Mariposa). Everyone was having a blast digging into the massive pancake breakfast.

"I've never tasted anything so scrumptious!" Globgor remarked, taking huge bites out of his plate full of pancakes. "Is this a common delicacy for the Earth people?" He asked Marco.

"Um...kinda, yeah." He said a bit hesitantly. "This place is the best pancake house in the state, and it gets a lot of business, so..." His uncertain spiel was interrupted with one of the servers putting down a plate with a _very_ tall stack of pancakes in front of them; each pancake was chock full of chocolate chips. "And you haven't seen anything yet."

"Eat up, everyone! There's plenty more where this came from!" Star declared, digging into the first pancake on the plate. "Don't worry, Marco, I got this one covered."

"Covered?"

"Yeah," She reached into her pocket and pulled out some loose cash. "My part-time jobs actually pay pretty well."

"Okay, but this was supposed to be a day out for you."

"But I want it to be a day out for _us_. This isn't any trouble. Promise." She leaned in and kissed his cheek sweetly. The boy sighed lovingly.

"Alright, but if you're short don't hesitate to let me know. I brought along some too."

"Of course, safe kid." They shared a lip kiss this time, drawing aww's from Eclipsa & Globgor. But Star prematurely pulled away when she noticed something that seemed a bit out of the ordinary. She took note of the entrance to the restaurant; there were multiple parties waiting to be seated. One of them consisted of the creature known as Lobster Claws - one of Ludo's original henchman from way back - and some of his fellow lobster monster friends. This group was repeatedly passed over for seating in the restaurant by the greeter, something that Star found completely outrageous. "Excuse me." She excused herself from the table and escorted herself to the entrance.

"Excuse me..." She got the attention of Lobster Claw's party. "...Hi. Do you remember me?"

Lobster Claws took a good long look at Star's face. Slowly, the memories flooded back for him. "...You're that magical princess, aren't you!"

"Star Butterfly, former princess, at your service." She did a courtesy bow for him. "Hey, why don't you and your friends come sit with me and my party? There's plenty of pancakes for you guys."

Lobster Claws and his friends all exchanged looks. Was this really happening? "You...You mean that? I-Is that even allowed?"

"Who cares? You guys wanna eat or not?" The lobster group all nodded in harmony as Star led her back to their two tables. "Hey guys, so, uh...this is Lobster Claws and his..."

"We're not related, we're just buddies."

"Okay cool. Lobster Claws and his buddies. Is it okay if they join us for breakfast? They were never seated."

Everyone in the group - from Moon & River to Angie & Rafael to Eclipsa & Globgor - silently contemplated the offer amongst themselves. But it only took a few seconds for them to agree & allow the group to join them. For a couple of minutes, everything was fine. Unfortunately, their meal was soon interrupted by said greeter that passed over them earlier. He was not a happy camper.

"Excuse me?" He said rather snobbishly. "You three are going to have to leave." He said to the lobsters.

"Is there a problem, good sir?" River asked at the adjacent table.

"These three don't belong at this table. They need to be seated properly."

"Well not for nothing but maybe you shouldn't have passed over them four times." Star said rather bluntly, not even looking up from her plate until after she finished her sentence. "I was watching you, sir. They were the first ones on line and you passed over them every time."

"That doesn't matter."

"Well I think it does. There was no reason for you to pass over them. They did nothing wrong. They're not hurting anyone. They have a right to be seated just like anyone else that comes here."

The greeter was not taking it well. Here was Star - in his eyes just a naive, immature little girl - telling him off for his bigoted actions, and yet she was doing it in such a calm, collected manner. She wasn't raising her voice. She wasn't drawing unnecessary attention to the situation. She was just politely telling him he was full of it. "W-Well these three couldn't pay for their meal anyway!"

"How could you know for sure? You didn't even seat them." Marco intervened, which only further enraged the greeter.

"I didn't ask _you_, did I?"

And his sharp attitude towards Marco prompted Angie & Rafael to stand up in defense of their son. "Do _not_ speak to our son that way." Angie barked angrily. "He's not wrong and you know it."

"No, the only thing I _know_ is that it's time for you all to leave. You've caused nothing but trouble for our fellow patrons." He turned to one of the surrounding tables. "Isn't that right, folks?"

Unfortunately for him, almost none of them were actually paying attention to this circus. And the ones that were paying attention weren't particularly taking his side. "Hey, I'm still waiting on my entree."

"Sir, we have more pressing matters to deal with." Clearly something was up the greeter's derriere today.

"Y-You know what, maybe we should just go." Lobster Claws and his friends attempted to stand up and make their way out. But the others were having none of it.

"Nonsense! If my little pumpkin can vouch for you then that's enough for us!" River proclaimed. "Sir, these fine gentlemen have done nothing wrong and only want to enjoy your fine establishment."

"_Fine__ gentlemen!?_" Yup, he was mad now. And what perfect timing, as the manager of the establishment came by to survey the problem.

"Is there a problem here?" The manager asked curtly.

"As a matter of fact, sir, there is." Moon spoke first, gently standing up to face him. "These three innocent lobster creatures have been repeatedly denied a table from your employee here."

"They were passed over four times, each time for a non-monster party. They were even passed over by a party that hadn't even set foot in the door yet!" Star added, feeling the anger within her bubbling. "So I offered them to come join _our_ table and _this_ guy-" She referred to the greeter with a hiss. "-wants to kick them out for literally doing nothing wrong!"

"...I see." The manager looked at his greeter, and then at the group. "Well I am terribly sorry about this. Rest assured I will be dealing with this matter appropriately. We do not condone this kind of behavior from our staff."

"Of course you do." Star immediately called him out, sending almost everyone's jaws to the ground. "Everyone & every business condones bigotry to some degree. It's why things are so screwed up in our world. You're only scapegoating this guy to push the blame off of yourself." Star was not holding back any more. But there wasn't any venom in her voice. Her resolute was calm, collected, focused. Sure, she could go full-rage on them, but to her, that wouldn't solve anything. Firm, focused anger was the answer in her eyes.

"Y-You know, lady, I think it _is_ time for you and your family to leave." The greeter said curtly again.

"Oh no no, you're not going to punish the rest of these people for something _I_ did. And you know what? If being courteous & nice to my fellow neighbors is frowned upon here, then I don't feel like I want to take my business here." Star reached into one of her pockets & pulled out a stack of money, handing it to the manager. "I believe this'll cover our meal today." And with that, she took off for the exit.

"Wait for us!" Moon exclaimed, she and River standing up in a huff and following her out. Without a second thought, everyone else followed suit, eventually culminating with Lobster Claws & his friends exiting as well.

"Hold it, wait!" The manager yelled in vain. Though it wasn't lost business - they paid for their meal anyway - it was a public humiliation that they weren't exactly ready for. And the manager wasn't too happy about it, as he glared rather angrily at his greeter. "This is why _I'm_ the manager of this place."

"You're the manager by _default_."

* * *

Outside, Lobster Claws & his group caught up to Star & her group. "Wait! WAIT!" He called, finally getting their attention.

"What's wrong?" Star inquired, unprepared for a show of gratitude that was coming her way.

"We, uh, we wanted to just...thank you for...doing that." Lobster Claws explained slowly and nervously.

"...Doing what?"

"Standing up for us. It's about time someone did."

"What does that mean? Has this happened to you before?"

Lobster Claws nodded. "Not always, though. Just when that stupid greeter is working. We've tried to come on days when he isn't working, but...I guess today luck wasn't on our side."

"Every time we run into him he gives us this snobbish attitude, like he thinks he's better than us or something." One of his friends spoke up.

"Is he a Mewman by any chance?" Star inquired.

"I don't know! Does it even matter?"

"It really doesn't." Marco barged in. He was right. Bigotry was bigotry, no matter who it came from. "The point is he looked down on you just because you guys were different. And apparently he's done it repeatedly."

"Well I'm sorry you three had to put up with that." Star exclaimed in a disappointed tone. "It's just another reminder that there's still a lot of work to be done..." She crossed her arms and looked away crestfallen.

"Work?" Lobster Claws cocked his head slightly.

"She means with the whole "repairing relationships & ending racism thing." Marco explained.

"Oh, right...at least she's still trying. I...thought she would've given up after..."

"After what?"

"After my "suicide attempt", Marco." Star butted in, referring to the fateful night in her room where she decimated her mirror into pieces in a fit of rage and nearly bled out. She remained adamant in her claim that it was _not_ an attempt to end her own life that night. But she accepted that, for whatever reason, that was the consensus between people that heard about the incident.

"Are you okay?" Lobster Claws asked the now-disappointed girl. She gave off a sarcastic chuckle.

"Sure, sure..." She was clearly not ready to delve into this today. "Okay, but like, _no_, of course I'm not going to give up. I set out to change Mewni and their bigoted ways towards monsters and dammit I was not going to rest until I was done. I guess...I guess I just didn't realize it was going to take _so much_ work and _so much_ time to make that happen. I nearly drove myself into the ground...several times...but you know what? It'll be worth it in the end. B-But enough about _me_, how about _you_? I-I haven't seen you since Marco tried to convince me there was good in you."

"And I was right...sort of..." Marco just _had_ to get that shot in; Star playfully laughed.

Lobster Claws, on the other hand, was a bit uneasy. "Oh, you know, just...eh...?"

"Really? W-" Star suddenly stopped herself and turned to her group. "Hey, why don't you all go on ahead? I'll, uh...I'll catch up."

The group looked over at each other. "Are you sure?" Marco asked, but it didn't take more than a reassuring nod from Star for them to feel satisfied. So they took their leave and headed deeper into Echo Creek. Star turned back to Lobster Claws solemnly.

"So...is that really what happened?" Lobster Claws asked, referring to that same night.

"...Not exactly. It's...complicated. But it's not important. How have _you_ been?"

"I guess I could be worse."

"Yeah, this new world is going to take a lot of time to get used to. Lot of logistical nightmares, grounding issues...racial biases, that sort of thing."

"I thought Mewni was bad before, but..."

She noticed his hesitation to continue. "But what?"

"Nah it's not important, I shouldn't be bogging you dow-" Any attempt to change the subject was immediately shot down by Star, who placed a comforting hand on him.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm all ears." She reassured him. "I've got time."

Was this really happening? Star actually wanted to hear him out? "You sure?" She nodded again.

"Come on, let's go for a walk."

* * *

So Star led Lobster Claws & his friends to Britta's Tacos and - with her own money - treated them to pain-peppered tacos. During this time, Star essentially played the part of a therapist, asking Lobster Claws and his friends about their experiences while comforting him. "And then one time I was trying to collect water from the lake that sits near our hut and this group of angry Mewmans lashed out at me!" Lobster Claws explained. "Called me names that I can't even repeat."

"Aww, I'm sorry..." Star said with a reassuring shoulder pat. "When did this happen?"

"I...don't remember? I think it was, like, the day after the coronation."

"Eclipsa's coronation?" And suddenly Star found herself overcome with feelings of uncertainty. It was the day after the coronation that she and Tom had planned to go on their long-lasting inter-dimensional trip together to help take her mind off the political garbage overtaking Mewni. "Oh no..."

"What?"

"That was literally the day I left Mewni for a long trip. I was _so_ burned out I needed to get away, but I _should've_ been there to stop that from happening to you guys."

_"_That ain't your fault. And it wasn't your responsibility. Besides, it was just cruel words. They knew we could give them a beating if we wanted to."

"But we didn't want to, cause we ain't like that no more." One of his friends added. "We just want to be left in peace. Is that too much to ask?"

"I don't think so." Star agreed. "Have you guys had any...you know, _friendly_ encounters since the..."

"Oh yeah, yeah, totally." Lobster Claws smiled. "A lot of the Mewmans that migrated over when the merge happened are actually...well, at least neutral towards us. Very few of them are that friendly to us, but the majority don't give us a hard time, really. It's just a select few, plus the Earth humans that..."

"Yeah, it turns out racism & bigotry are about as American as pie and football."

"I thought it was called soccer." The other friend who hadn't spoke yet finally piped up.

"No, that's an entirely different sport. Don't worry, I was confused too at first." The four of them shared a brief chuckle. "Okay look, I...I know I'm probably not the best person to talk to about all of this."

"But aren't _you_ the one that tried to fix everything by yourself?"

She had to hesitate. The more unique people she talked to, the more she realized just how far reaching her efforts truly were. "Y-Yeah, but like..._I_ haven't had to endure the bigotry, hatred, and vile that you and people like you have had to endure for centuries. So I can't really related to what you guys and your ancestors went through. Especially knowing that I played a part in those rifts being made..."

"But then you turned around and tried to make it right."

"Yeah, but it didn't work the way I hoped..."

"Hey!" Came a voice that didn't come from any of the three lobster monsters. It was from an adjacent table, and it was what appeared to be a half-squid, half-lion hybrid monster. "We haven't forgotten everything you've been trying to do for us."

She was almost stunned. "Really?"

"Yeah! Sure it hasn't been easy, and it probably won't ever be, but we appreciate knowing there's at least one person out there always fighting for us."

"Oh, come on...it's not just _me_. I have a huge group of friends & family that have my back and are going to help us usher in a great new era of peace for all. I'm not alone, and neither are you guys."

"You sure about that? Cause it feels that way sometimes..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Ahh, it's not important-"

"Uh uh." Now Star was fully invested with the conversation. Star PHD was here to stay...just without the glasses. "Talk to me. I'm all ears."

The monster raised its eyebrows, exchanging looks with Lobster Claws before returning his attention to Star. "You sure?" Again she nodded. "Okay, if you insist..."

* * *

Meanwhile, deeper into the city, the rest of Star's group found themselves heading towards the park where the new playground was set to begin construction relatively soon. Of course, given that Star, in the midst of her aggressive sleep-helping, single-handedly took care of almost a quarter of the actual building that was intended, this meant that the group who would actually participate in the build was going to be left with less work to deal with.

Or at least that was the thought process among the group...until they actually arrived at the park and saw a sight that immediately caused their blood pressure to rise. There were a few workers - a mix of Earth humans & Mewni mewmans - who were trying to _destroy_ the progress Star had made. "EXCUSE ME!?" Eclipsa called out as the group dashed into the park to catch them dismantling a part of a big slide. "What on Earthni are you doing?!"

"Someone came in and made unauthorized builds to some of the landscapes in this park. We've been ordered to take it down." One of the workers explained bluntly to them.

"...But why?"

"You gentlemen _do_ know that _this_ is the park for that big community pitch-in coming up, right?" Globgor calmly explained.

"Of _course_ we know." One of the other workers responded rather curtly. "But these builds weren't authorized. Do any of you know who's responsible for these builds anyway?"

Moon and River both looked at each other. Should they out Star? They'd only be doing it out of defense and out of admiration for her efforts. Plus, it was rather common knowledge that this occurred during her sleepwalking stunt, so it wasn't like she was overtly responsible, no? "As a matter of fact, we do." River stated firmly.

"It was our wonderful daughter, Star." Moon praised.

"Oh, _her_." The worker - the mewman - said with an obvious hint of annoyance in his voice. He turned to his co-worker - the Earth human. "What a surprise, am I right?"

The Earth worker just cocked his eyebrow at him. "I literally have no idea what you're talking about."

For reasons known only to supernatural aliens that don't exist, the mewman took this as a sign to inch closer to him & nudge his arm, winking at him. "_Sure_ you don't, pal."

Again, a cocked eyebrow & head from the human. "Respect my personal space before you force me to strip you of your ability to procreate."

"You guys _do_ know that this was when Star was sleepwalking, right?" Marco asked them. "It was kind of a big deal. You know, three nights...it was even a news story..."

"Oh I remember that." One of the other Earth human workers said. "That was...something."

"Maybe she _was_ 'sleepwalking' but it doesn't excuse her trespassing on private property."

"None of us are saying it does." Eclipsa barked. They really weren't in the mood for a fight with uncooperative and/or stubborn mewmans. "But does it really justify tearing down what's already been built? She even followed the blueprints _perfectly_."

"Sorry, lady, I'm just doing what your esteemed "mayor" ordered us to do."

Uh oh...that was a no-go. Moon & Eclipsa exchanged smirks. "Oh, is that so?" Moon stepped forward, reaching into one of her pockets and pulling out some papers. "You see, gentleman, my family and I are a part of the mayor's counsel. A shadow counsel, if you will."

"And a fine shadow counsel if I may." River added. "And we have it on good authority that he has ordered that the work that our lovely daughter performed in this park is to remain untouched."

Moon handed the papers to the group of workers, who all took turns flipping through the papers.

The Butterfly family was indeed a part of a shadow counsel the mayor had created in response to the Cleaving. While Star & Marco were out on their getaway, the Butterflies met with the mayor and his people, coming together on a proposal that would allow them to enjoin their political experiences together to help their new world navigate through the new challenges it faced, both logistically _and_ politically. The mayor's office was still the front face of the deal, but the Butterfly family's experience running their former kingdom proved at times to be incredibly beneficial, not just for political ploys, but to help Star continue her road to recovery, especially knowing how some mewmans were still quite sore over everything that happened. _Very_ sore.

"N-Ne-Okay, how do I know this is legit and stuff?" The mewman spoke out again. "You could've forged this for all I know."

"I doubt they could have." Rafael decided this was a good time to make a joke at the mewman's expense. "They're not, what we'd say, _finesse_ with technology, and I doubt you are either." And it took very little time for him to realize he shouldn't have done that. "But that is okay! It is not a bad thing to be inept at some areas of life!"

The mewman had his jaw on the ground. "Are you saying I'm a deadbeat!?"

"No, he's saying you're stupid." Angie chimed in, and now it was time for the Butterflies to have their jaws on the ground.

Marco quickly buried his head in his hoodie. His parents always meant well, especially now. But this was not the time for them to be doing this.

"You know what? Screw this, I'm out of here. I'm gonna go talk to your _mayor_ and we'll get this sorted out!" The mewman stomped out of the park, but backtracked a few steps when he realized the other workers weren't following him. "Um, yo, you punks comin' or what?"

"What? Out here? In front of these people?" It was clear that the Earth worker badly misunderstood the question. "W-Oh OH you meant are we-no no no, we're good here. We're not gonna get ourselves tied up in whatever's going on in your head."

This didn't sit well with the mewman. "Your loss!" And with that, he left, leaving everyone else behind. Following an awkward silence, the rest of the workers also went their separate ways, leaving the Butterflies, plus Marco & his parents standing there to soak in the uncomfortable awkward vibe left behind.

"Just so we're clear..." Globgor spoke up, finally breaking the silence. "Everyone heard that, right?"

"Yes Globgor, we all caught it." River said bluntly to Globgor before turning to Marco. "Marco, my boy, I must ask, why-"

"I don't know why Earth people are so dumb." He said flatly in response. "We just are."

"...quite right. I submit we go relocate our missing party member!"

* * *

And so the group went back out, deciding to head to Britta's Tacos, surmising that that was the most likely place they would run into her. And they were right, but the end result was not what they were expecting. They arrived only to find that Star was surrounding by a large group of people, a mix of monsters, mewmans, and Earth humans. She was now basically playing the part of a therapist listening to people in the group go off about their problems and feelings. It was incredibly cathartic for all involved...especially for Star's own therapist, Cassandra Cher, who happened to be watching away from them.

"What's happened here?" Moon asked as Cassandra approached them.

"I think she's learned more from me than she's let on." She responded rather proudly. "I've been watching for the past hour. She hasn't stopped _once_. Her dedication to whatever cause she takes up is incredible, even if it is as simple as listening to others."

"She _is_ a tremendous problem solver." Moon beamed with pride. "She speaks and acts from her heart..."

Over by Star, she was currently having a talk with Penelope & her boyfriend Slime. "And I can't help it, I keep _sliming_ all of her and her family's furniture!" Slime lamented. "I'm not doing it on purpose, I just can't control it."

"Well, what does Penelope think?" Star turned to Penelope. "Is this like a dealbreaker for you or something? Because I'm sure you thought this through when you decided to go out with him-"

"Oh no no, it doesn't bother me." She said confidently. "I know it's not his fault and he's trying his best to work on it. It's my parents who are the problem." Her tone suddenly turned somber. "They don't like it, and they're a little bit too trigger happy with calling him out when it happens."

"...I see."

"I don't completely blame them, we have _really_ expensive furniture, but like, give him a break, he's trying." Penelope sighed. "I wish I had the moxy to actually talk to them about this, it bothers me every time they go after him for it. But I don't. I'm a coward."

"...You're afraid of your parents?"

Another sigh from Penelope before she continued. "I'm afraid of upsetting them."

"But you love Slime, don't you?" After a brief silence, Penelope nodded her head. "It's...not really my place to get in the middle of things between you and your folks, but...sometimes, being in love and being in a relationship means having to make difficult choices, even if they amount to things like "standing up to your parents to fight for your relationship" or something."

"...But what if they...I don't know, retaliate?"

"Don't they already like Slime? Like this isn't a make-or-break thing or anything, it's just them being upset about something trivial?" Again, Penelope nodded. "Then I'm sure it'll work out. You just have to be calm but firm with them. Also, you guys know you can just get some plastic wrap & wrap the furniture so you don't have to worry about him getting slime on everything."

"Yeah, I thought of that. But you know what? No, that's not an option. Slime doesn't do well with plastic..."

"I'm severely allergic to it." He interrupted.

"And I'm not going to ask him to have to put up with it _just_ so my parents don't have to deal with these issues. It's not fair to him."

Star smiled & nodded along. "You guys _are_ really cute together." Her eyes wandered off to the side where she saw her group & Cassandra standing there in support. "Hi guys!" She shouted, waving to them. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." She raced over to the ground and embraced them. "Where have you guys been? And Ms. Cher, how long have you been here?"

"I've been watching you go at this for an hour. I guess our sessions together have rubbed off on you quite well." She said with such a proud look on her face. Star blushed.

"Aww, thanks. Yeah, I've picked up a lot from our sessions together, and I gotta tell you, just the feeling of getting to help others, even just listening to them...it's...it's pretty magical."

"Why yes it is, truly...magical..." Cassandra's voice trailed a bit on that last word.

And what about you guys?" She turned to her family & Marco's family. "Where'd you go?"

"We went to that park where the big playground build is supposed to happen." Marco explained.

"Only we found a bunch of hooligans claiming to be town-sanctioned workers trying to tear down the work that you did the other night." Globgor jumped in, causing Star's jaw to fall.

"What!?" She shouted.

"_**WHAT**__**!?**" _Others in the group behind her also shouted. Word traveled fast in this world.

"That _was_ you?" Slime exclaimed, sharing everyone's reaction of "what the heck."

Star nervously turned to face them. "Y-Yeah, I can explain..."

"She was sleepwalking." Marco piped up.

"And they wanted to tear it _down_!?" Star turned back to her family & her boyfriend, outraged over this revelation. "...but I thought it was all squared away with the mayor."

"It _was_." Moon stepped in. "They were merely trying to intimidate us."

"Let me guess: it was a mewman leading the way."

"I'm afraid so."

"Ugh! What the _heck_ is their _problem_!?" She exclaimed. "I wasn't in control of what I was doing. And I was just trying to help." She crossed her arms and groaned in frustration. "They're really going to keep taking it out on me, aren't they? Well you know what? It's _their_ loss. It's not going to stop me from trying to make this world better and trying to help the people around me. Even if I'm doing something as simple as listening to other people's problems & trying to help them out. I-I'm not a therapist or anything-"

When Star brought up the word "therapist," Cassandra tip-toed to Moon & handed her an envelope. "_Make sure she gets this."_ She whispered, winking at her.

"-but if I can help people even on a small scale, then I'm doing something good with my time."

Marco brought her in for a hug, his pride for her rising with every second. "Heh, you know if you _really_ wanted to help them, you could do things like, I don't know, host a yoga class or something."

Star got a chuckle out of that suggestion. "Oh Marco, that's funny. I'm not a yoga instructor..."

"No, but that doesn't matter. What matters is you wanna help people, a-and yoga's a great stress reliever."

"A yoga class taught by the former princess of Mewni?" Lobster Claws piped up, making his presence again known. It was clear that the idea was catching on with those in the group. "I could go for that." And this was met with positive reception from essentially everyone else, which both surprised & delighted Star. They then found themselves approached by two others - Jackie & Chloe - who were in the background listening in on everything.

"You take yoga?" Jackie asked Star. Just her mere physical presence got Star's face to go red.

"Y-Yeah, only recently. Gotta tell you, though, it's a _great_ stress reliever."

"Oui, the benefits are exquisite." Chloe added. "I take it myself in my spare time."

"Oh really?"

"I've wanted to get into it, but I just...never could." Jackie admitted. "But maybe now I can. We'll have a _really_ good instructor to work with," She winked towards Star, getting her face to go redder. Jackie knew Star had a physical crush on her, but Star didn't know that Jackie knew, and Jackie was going to have fun messing with her about it. "Plus I'll finally get a chance to break in some yoga pants that I ha-"

"**_THE YOGA PANTS HAVE SPOKEN!_**" Now Star's face was an entirely newly invented shade of red. Jackie Lynn Thomas? In yoga pants? Sign her up. Star turned to the rest of the group. "How about it, everyone? Tomorrow in the big park? Noon?" A moment of brief silence, but it quickly passed with everyone joining in applause for the idea. "Great! Bring your yoga mats-" She turned to Jackie "And your yoga pants," She winked back, then turned back again to the group. "And remember, everyone just relax & have a good time. We're all acquaintances or friends here! I've got your back!"

The crowd continued applauding for another moment before breaking off & dispersing, almost everyone going their separate ways. The only ones that stay behind were Jackie, Chloe, and Janna, who also happened to be in the background of the group keeping to herself. Star fell back to regroup with her family, leaving Marco with the others.

"Tomorrow's going to be _so_ much fun, isn't it?" Jackie said to Marco while she smirked his way.

"...You're enjoying this, aren't you?" He asked her, referring to her flirting with the former magical princess.

"...yeah, I am." Jackie admitted, a faint blush crushing her face as well. "But admit it, Marco: _you're_ enjoying it too." That was the truth, evidenced by his own face going red & him covering his mouth with his hands. He might have been "over" Jackie romantically, but physically & sexually, that was a different story. Indeed, the thought of Jackie in yoga pants suddenly entered his mind & it was a battle to control himself.

"Dude...you are _such_ a boy." Janna teased, lightly punching Marco's arm and laughing at his expense.

* * *

Later that night, after everyone had gone their separate ways, Star was in her room, reading the papers from the envelope that Cassandra had given Moon earlier. She finished just as Marco walked into the room. "Whatcha' reading?" Marco asked.

"Oh, Ms. Cher gave this to my mom to give to me," Star pointed out. "It's...an application for a provisional license in therapy."

He sat down next to her and peered over her shoulder at the papers. "Really?" She nodded silently in response. "Wow. That's awesome!"

"Y-Yeah, I guess it is."

"Something wrong?"

"No, it's just...weird, I guess. I mean all I did today was hear people out while they aired their grievances about the pre-Cleaving bigotry on Mewni and the post-Cleaving bigotry they face now, I don't really think that qualifies me to become a therapist or whatever."

He patted her shoulder for comfort. "You do know that it would take a lot of time for you to even get to that point, right? It's not like you're gonna do all this and then suddenly next week you're a licensed therapist."

"...That's true."

"And hey, it's not like you have to decide right now, right? It's just a suggestion she's throwing your way. I guess she really thinks that highly of you."

"Her and about a thousand other people in my life." She blushed and looked away, slightly embarrassed. All of this endless praise being heaped onto her, how could she be upset at it?

"I'm sorry about the thing at the park," Marco lamented, changing the subject to the more serious matter. "I have no idea what is going on with your people lately, but we're not going to let them intimidate you."

"Eh, don't worry about them so much." Star reassured him, kissing his cheek gently.

"You sure?"

"Uh huh. I already don't like myself very much, so it's not like _them_ hating me is going to make me feel any worse than I already do." She put the papers in her hand on her dresser drawer, turning back to him & smiling. "But I _know_ I'm surrounded by lots and lots of love. I _will_ love myself again one day, and it'll make all of this worth it."

"That's right." Marco placed his hands on her shoulder and engaged in a kiss, carefully taking the two of them down onto the bed where the sparks could really fly. "We're all here for you. Always and forever."

She nodded her head slowly in agreement. "Thanks. Okay, what do you say we head to bed?"

The boy's eyes quickly widened as he checked his watch. "It's early, though."

"Yeah I know, but since I'm gonna be doing that impromptu yoga class tomorrow I figured I'd get an early start on preparations. Which means you and I need to get started right away as well..." She said _that_ with a smirk and a twinkle in her eye.

"Ooh, I love the sound of that."

"Yup! Sooner we start, sooner we can finish and I can go to sleep, and the sooner _you_ can have _your _fun." She finished with a wink. She was _highly_ adamant about letting Marco "have his way" with her, moreso ever since they found out that her frequently falling asleep in the middle of their escapades was a rare form of "sexsomnia" and only marginally connected to her ongoing health issues. Of course she understood the boy's concerns about "consent" and about accidentally hurting her. But she trusted him with her life, her heart, _and_ her body, and she was never going to hesitate to remind him of that.

"Star..." He playfully whined. "Are you sure?"

"You haven't hurt me yet, have you?" She asked; he nodded. "Right. And I know you won't hurt me now. I trust you completely. And I just want you to enjoy yourself."

He couldn't be upset at her logic, no matter what issues he took with it. "Thanks, babe."

"Besides, it's not _my_ fault _you're_ sexually aroused by the sound of me snoring like a lumberjack."

"Uhh technically it _is?"_ He playfully clapped back at her, his face red as a pepper. Star was unimpressed, though in a joking manner. And she "retaliated" by giving him a gentle wet willy. "Eww, seriously?" They were great at knowing how to joke with each other without hurting each other's feelings. "By the way, you really ought to stop drooling on all of your pillows, the laundry load can't keep up with you."

"Aww, but why would I do that? You enjoy it so much." One could pinpoint the exact moment when shame crossed Marco's face. But Star merely chuckled. "Don't give me that, you know I'm right."

More laughs shared between the two before they quickly stripped their clothes & got to their fun. For as weird as their relationship was, it was twice as powerful. They were hellbent on keeping their bond together through all the hills and valleys. They had each other through all of it, and nothing would change that.

* * *

Meanwhile, out in the Neverzone, Cassandra Cher found herself slowly wandering down a dark hallway with a torch in her hand. She reached near the end of the hallway, where she discovered teenaged Mariposa & Meteora waiting there. They had already opened up their self-installed security system up to the final door. With a deep breath, Mariposa opened the door and pulled out the wand that had been sitting there since their last adventure in the Neverzone. She held it up high...and in the process accidentally set off a spell unprovoked, said spell creating a cat-dog hybrid creature. Only it was just the heads of a dog and a cat and not the bodies. It was...not a pleasant sight.

But the demonstration was only meant to show the wand off. Cassandra gasped quietly & tip-toed closer to the two teens, laying her eyes on the wand. "So...it _is_ true."

Both Mariposa & Meteora nodded. "...magic's back." Meteora said firmly.

Now...why did Mariposa & Meteora feel the need to tell Cassandra Cher - Star's therapist - and not literally anyone else in the Butterfly family? That's a very good question...

* * *

**End of Episode 19!**

**Ooh, suspense! **

**It just hit me that May 29 marked TEN MONTHS since I embarked on this insane journey of writing. Yep, the first part of "When Dimensions Cleave" was published on July 29, 2019. Ten months later, here we are. And I have no plans to stop anytime soon. To everyone that's read my stories, left reviews, engaged with me...I am sincerely thankful to all of you. Your support has helped make this possible. **

**Stay safe. Keep rocking. And as always, please read & review!**


	20. The Queens and The Books

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 20: The Queens and the Books**

**Episode Summary: Mariposa & Meteora team up with Cassandra Cher to investigate the new source of magic that inexplicably appeared in the Neverzone. Meanwhile, Eclipsa & Moon have a late night heart-to-heart reminiscing on the age of magic & queens, both the good _and_ the bad.**

**Original Release Date: June 11, 2020**

* * *

In the Neverzone, Cassandra Cher studied the newly-minted magic wand that Mariposa was wielding in her hand. "So...it _is_ true."

"...Yup...magic's back."

Mariposa carefully handed the wand to Cassandra. Their expectations were that the wand would change form to better reflect Cassandra's personality. The real shock came when that action did not occur. "...Fascinating."

"What is?"

"The magic wand always altered its appearance to reflect the wielder's most inner personality. But it seems the wand is...for lack of a better term, "stuck."

"But how's that even possible?"

"More importantly...why the hell is magic back? _How_ the hell is magic even back!?" Meteora demanded answers. The question was whether Cassandra could actually provide them.

"Magic isn't "back" because magic never "left." She explained. "At least...not the way _you_ hoped it would. Magic is...magic is the equivalent to energy, in that it cannot be "created" or "destroyed. It can only be changed from one form to another."

"Oh, that's just lovely." Meteora lamented, instantly turning frustrated at this revelation despite it only being the tip of the iceberg. Oh yeah, there was much more to come. "So all the work that Star did to destroy magic - twice - was for nothing."

"No, not necessarily." Cassandra reassured them.

"Why do you say that?"

Cassandra reached into one of her pockets & pulled out a small but thick booklet. "I'll let you two in on a secret. I'm _more_ than just a therapist."

"Oh jeez...don't tell me you're actually that blue-skinned magic sage-impersonator...what was his name?"

"Glossaryck?" Cassandra let out a sarcastic laugh. The notion was just too funny to her. "Oh no, I can assure you I'm nothing like that little troll."

Her answer only led to Meteora being more confused. "So you're not magic _like_ him, but...you _know_ of him?"

"That's correct. I'm what people would call a "historian. I kept a record of important historic events that took place on Mewni. It's what helps me stay prepared for all of my clients."

"But...some of your clients aren't...Mewman..." Mariposa pointed out.

"I expected my studies to Earth history as well. I'm a very quick study. The Cleaving merely made that job easier. But the point of all this is I'm aware of how magic has operated during its existence in the universe." She opened up her small booklet and opened it to a specific page. "Including how it behaves after it's supposed "destruction." See, Star performing the Whispering Spell on Queen Solaria & Mina Loveberry _was_ necessary, _and_ it was how the Solarian magic was destroyed for good. However, because Solarian Magic and Mewni Magic are not one in the same, a small sliver of Mewni Magic was left behind when their bodies were destroyed. Because Mewni Magic and inter-dimensional travel are so heavily interconnected to one another, it appears that the sliver of magic that was left behind was scattered throughout the multiverse." Cassandra continued studying the wand, taking note of the green diamond-shaped crystal in the middle. "Where did you come across this?"

"In the Afflicted Forest." Mariposa explained. "We were having a snowball fight with each other-"

"Which _I_ won." Meteora playfully smirked.

"I grabbed a handful of snow and it was there, a-and it started glowing, a-and then it started to morph into that wand..."

"Did you cast any spells with it?"

"I think so...mostly I just used it for defense. To be honest I wasn't even sure_ what_ I was doing back there. Why?"

She gently handed the wand back to Mariposa. "We need to consider the possibility that there are more of these magical crystals scattered throughout the multiverse."

"Is that a coincidence? Or could it be something more...coordinated?"

"Coordinated...how?" Now it was time for the two teens to revisit their most recent adventure in the Neverzone, the adventure that saw the wand fall into their hands in the first place.

"The creature we were fighting..." Meteora jumped into the conversation. "It kept repeating the same things about "the prophecy being fulfilled" and "magic returning" and all that nonsense. And with this wand here...it can't be a coincidence. What if this is the Magic High Commission's work? What if they left behind some sort of contingency plan for when they were killed? What if somehow this is a part of some convoluted plan to bring themselves back & try to undo everything that was done to bring peace to Mewni. All of Star's work...all of my mom's work..."

"If this _is_ the work of those three hypocritical, two-timing traitors, then we _do_ indeed have a cause for concern. I wouldn't put it past them to try to reintroduce themselves into a world that, by and large, has rejected the past & opened their hearts to a better, more loving future."

"Well obviously someone _else_ seems to know that something is afoot."

"Why do you say that?"

Mariposa reached into her pocket and pulled out the map that she and Meteora used as reference in their most recent adventure in the Neverzone (i.e. **Episode 11: Magical Follies**). "The last time we were here, we were looking for treasure. Took us a year to navigate to where we were even going."

"A year? But h-oh right, right, time dilation, sorry."

"The map led us right to this secret passage. It didn't even lead us to the crystal, we found that completely by chance."

"Really? I...I see. Well where did you come across this map anyway?"

The two teen silently looked at each other. "While Star and Marco were out of town on their break, that demon boy and his family started working on this device that let you travel through the multiverse. I-It was like the dimensional scissors, but it's science now, not magic. One night we...we took one of those gun things for a joyride and we ended up back in the Neverzone. W-We were rescuing this village from an onslaught from...oh god, I don't even remember what the heck we fought...a-and we helped one of the villagers out of trouble but they dropped something out of their satchel a-and it turned out to be that map."

"The more I think about it, the more I think that it wasn't just dumb luck that we came across that map..." Meteora relented, her nerves tensing up.

"I'm not one to believe in coincidences." Cassandra admitted. "But we won't know for sure until this case has been thoroughly investigated."

"How do we go about it? And do we tell anyone about this-"

"No! No..." Cassandra stopped them in their tracks. They were surely in a pickle now. The thoughts that were racing through her head would making Mariposa & Meteora squirm in fear. But were they anywhere closet to a comfortable position to let anyone else in on what they thought was happening? "Alright, listen to me: for the time being, I will take it from here. I'll do my own form of investigations both in our normal dimension _and_ in the multiverse."

"By yourself?"

"I will keep you two in the loop _only_ in _this_ dimension. But for now, let me take the lead. It's not your responsibility to be mixed up in any of this...especially if it's as bad as I fear it is. And unless I give the "okay," you do not tell _anyone_ about _any_ of this."

"Not even Star?"

"Why would we _want_ to tell her?" Mariposa interjected. "She already has enough crap she's going through. She got way too invested in the political game on Mewni and it messed with her physically & emotionally. Do I even _need_ to list all the things wrong with her? OH!" Suddenly a light bulb went on in her had. "Wait...do you know if this possible re-emergence of magic has anything to do with what's been plaguing Star? I-I mean physically..." She was referring to Star's on-again, off-again heart issues. Some days her heart gave her no trouble and she proceeded the day as normal. Other days her heart gave her nothing _but_ trouble. The exact cause of her ongoing problems was still shrouded in mystery to everyone. Some speculated it was purely a result of Star only receiving a tiny amount of the healing spell (from **When Dimensions Cleave**) in the form of backwash. Others speculated it was a culmination of the relentless stress she put herself through & suffered from from the moment she returned to Mewni full-time following Toffee's vanquish to the day of Eclipsa's coronation, nearly a full calendar year later. But nobody could identify a solid answer, so the course of treatment was still up in the air.

"I wish I could say with any certainty." Cassandra relented. Even _she_ didn't know. She turned around and began to walk away. "I'll get in contact with you as soon as I need assistance."

"How will we know you're trying to contact us?"

"I'll send a message to Star and her family. The message will contain the following sentence: _The Fools Grovel At Dusk._ That'll be your cue to find your way back here. Understand?" The two teens nodded. "Good. And whatever you do, **_DO NOT LOSE THAT WAND_**!" Without another word, she was out of sight, leaving the two of them by themselves, now with their own set of concerns and their thoughts...

* * *

Back on Earthni, it was the dead of night. At the Butterfly Castle, Star & Marco were still at it, quietly but rambunctiously having a grand old time under the blankets. River & Globgor were also sleeping in their own respective rooms. The only two of the former royal family that were still up were Moon & Eclipsa. Eclipsa was up trying to put together the finishing touches on the first draft of her book. Moon was up because she couldn't sleep. Her mind was still racked to the brim with the uncomfortable imagery of the last couple of days, dating back to Star's sleep-helping stunt.

Despite drinking a nice, warm glass of milk, her nerves remained unsettled. She aimlessly wandered the castle halls for what seemed like an eternity before finally passing by one of the castle's many study rooms to find Eclipsa, by herself by a typewriter, rummaging through loose papers on her desk. "Eclipsa?"

The soft-spoken nature of Moon's voice drew the aspiring author from her focus. "Moon! I didn't expect you to be up at this hour."

"I could say the same about you."

"Don't mind me, I'm just trying to finish up my book."

"You've been working on this project ever since the end of magic." She slowly entered the room, eyeing one of the empty chairs & claiming it for herself. "I would've thought it would take less time to complete?"

"Oh heavens no." Eclipsa corrected her. "I'm only working on the first draft. There will be multiple corrections & fixes for grammatical errors, or for lines I want to take out or add in. And then there's actually convincing a publisher to actually sell the book...no, it takes quite a long time to complete."

"Does it now? Well...I certainly had no idea."

Eclipsa drew Moon's attention to a tall, mostly-neatly stacked pile of paper. "This stack right here? _This_ is my entire first draft."

"That entire stack!?"

"Yes! But don't get too worked up, the final draft won't be quite as thick. It would much too cumbersome a book for readers to carry."

Moon's eyes darted straight for the stack of papers. "Would you mind if I had a look at what you have so far?"

"Oh heavens no," Eclipsa picked up said stack and put it closer to Moon. "By all means."

In the background, Eclipsa showed nothing but delight & glee over the prospect of her book's potential publishing. No gloating, no rubbing in other people's faces. Just sheer delight & enthusiasm. This was _hers_. It would be exactly as honest and as raw as _she_ wanted it to be, a notion that quickly made itself clear to Moon as she flipped through the pages. You named it? It was in the book. From Eclipsa's time as a young child back in the days of her mother Queen Solaria to her young adventures with the handsom, charismatic Globgor. From the trauma of having her own daughter swapped out for a peasant child all because she was conceived with a monster to watching from within a crystal prison as the kingdom of Mewni changed around her. From her release out of the crystal prison to her trial. From her own daughter embracing her monster heritage & threatening to ruin the kingdom as revenge for the swap to Eclipsa nearly killing her to preserve said kingdom. From Star returning the throne to her to Moon's ultimate betrayal. The book was completely packed to the brim concerning Eclipsa's life. All of the good, all of the bad, and _everything_ in between.

"Well, I must say...you have not held back." Moon relented, finishing skimming through the pages. "Are you...are you sure about this? There's so much detail here."

"I'm not sure there _is_ such a thing as "too much detail." Eclipsa retorted back.

"You're bearing your entire life unto these pages."

"That's the entire point, my dear."

"You're not concerned with public perception over some of these events? N-Not by us o-or by _me_, but-"

Eclipsa sighed softly and gently shook her head. "If you're concerned I'm going to receive undo backlash for some of my recountings of our history, please don't be. I know what I'm doing and what potential outrage I will spark as a result, but I'm fully prepared for those consequences. I've said before that it's better to be despised for who you are than loved for something you're not. And I shall stand by that motto until I perish."

If only everyone else could take on that mindset. "Oh yes, of course..."

"That being said, there _are_ some changes I've been considering."

"What exactly?"

"I'm...thinking about removing the chapter about Star in the middle." One of the middle chapters of Eclipsa's book focused _heavily_ on Star. The bulk of it was focused on her efforts to clear Eclipsa's name during the trial, her work as her royal advisor - and essentially shadow queen due to Eclipsa's apathy towards her royal duties - following her relinquishing the throne, and her tireless service in trying to mend the broken fences between mewmans and monsters. All of it was the highest of praise. It was also all in intricate detail, including the many sleepless nights she suffered as a result of being the shadow queen & the emotional moments of fragility due to that workload _and_ her personal problems overwhelming her, as well as the sacrifice she thought she was making with her relationship with Marco by destroying the magic.

There were also other parts scattered throughout the chapter where many of Star's friends, both from Mewni _and_ Earth, offered their own takes on the former princess. Once again, nothing but high praise. Everyone Eclipsa talked to had at least one nice thing to say about her, and every single quote was put into the book. This chapter was the one Eclipsa was the most proud of because, in her eyes, it gave her the chance to do something she felt she hadn't properly done: thank Star for everything she did and _tried_ to do for her and the kingdom. Sure, there was the "Honorary Queen For The Day" party they all cobbled together for her (in Chapter 12 of **When Dimensions Cleave**) but everyone pitched in for that. This chapter was _her_ tribute to Star.

"Really?! But why do that?" A rhetorical question. Moon knew exactly what she was referring to.

"You know why-"

"No, please don't get the wrong idea!"

"Don't you remember!? She was _bleeding_!" When Star finally got around to reading the part of Eclipsa's book she had gifted to her, she got up to the chapter about herself. Star became overwhelmed with pride reading through the praise everyone had for her, so much so that her severe self-loathing took over again and sent into a depressive rage, resulting in her inadvertently slamming the back of her head into the wall (in Episode 12 of **The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**).

"But she _loved_ what you wrote, Eclipsa! Every single word of it!"

"Are you sure? She's not just saying that?"

"That same night, she came to River and I and was jumping for joy! She bragged about all the nice things everyone had to say about her! She didn't hate what was written, she hated that she couldn't enjoy it. There's a stark difference...and _you_ know it. We _both_ know it..."

Eclipsa reluctantly nodded. "Yes...I suppose we do..." Followed by a sigh. "Poor girl tried _so_ hard to help me, even when I was way in over my head or simply loafing my duties. Not to mention I think...I went a bit overboard compensating the monsters for the past transgressions of the mewmans and the kingdom."

Moon knew she had to choose her words carefully. "I...agree. I would've done things differently were I in your position, but yours and Star's actions came from a good place. The monsters _had_ been and are still unfairly discriminated against, _and_ your mother did seize all of their land illegally..."

"Not according to the hoard of angry mewmans I had constantly breathing down our necks over it."

"Oh ignore them. Most of them don't have the wherewithal to maintain any righteous fury for more than five seconds. They just want something to be angry about. I know that feeling very well."

"As do I..." An awkward moment of silence followed suit. As if by sheer happenstance, both of their minds wandered to the exact same thought. "Moon...you know that I never asked for the throne back, right?"

Not the response Moon was expecting to hear. "Excuse me?"

"I didn't want the wand. I didn't _want_ to be queen. I only wanted my husband to be freed from his prison so we could have a life together. But Star was adamant about righting the wrongs the High Commission engaged in, and when I saw just how much effort she was putting into everything, I felt _awful_ about not wanting the throne, more so after she announced she was throwing me a coronation."

It was always a sore spot for Moon, but not out of malice. Eventually, she did accept that Star didn't just hand over the throne to Eclipsa because she felt the job was "too hard," an accusation she at one point felt quite strongly about but never voiced publicly. But come the day of Eclipsa's coronation, Moon came to realize how wrong she truly was. Gazing at her hard-working daughter driving herself nuts trying to throw a perfect coronation got her to finally accept how much Star had grown since she first received the magic wand. So much so that she was more than eager to give her a break from all of it once she & Marco returned from their getaway.

Internally, she was frustrated that Star was so resistant to this intended reprieve. She thought her own daughter would be delighted at the notion of not having to involve herself politically for a while longer, especially given that the transition from Mewni to Earthni was such a daunting undertaking that they felt it shouldn't be in the hands of someone so young and fatigued. But not only was Star just as committed to helping the transition now as she was with Eclipsa in charge, sometimes she was even _more_ heavily involved than she was previously. This left Moon incredibly conflicted. Yes, the same woman that endlessly & aggressively pushed Star to become the "proper princess" she felt Mewni needed...was upset that her daughter wasn't taking advantage of her _extremely_ extended home vacation.

It wasn't like Star was doing it out of spite either. Her aggressive involvement in some of the political dealings post-Cleaving weren't to prove herself to her mother or "stick it to her" as it were. It was out of a sincere passion to help move the world forward. She couldn't be more proud of her if she tried, while simultaneously, she couldn't be more concerned for her well-being & mental health if she tried.

"Moon..." Moon was quickly snapped out of her deep internal monologue thanks to Eclipsa breaking the ice. "Do you think Star would have made a good queen?" That's a good question. She told Star herself (again, in Chapter 12 of **When Dimensions Cleave**) that she thought she'd make a tremendous queen. But did she really mean it? Was she merely compensating for the guilt she felt? Or was it a combination of the two. "Personally...I think..."

"Do _not_ answer that, Eclipsa." Moon said sternly. _Any_ bad talk of Star was now strictly a sin in her eyes. Talk about a complete 180.

"Moon, you and I both know that a queen has a tremendous burden to shoulder...responsibilities that not even the king possesses. And those responsibilities require an incredible mental fortitude in order to get the job done. Day in and day out. It isn't a position that can be taken lightly." She took a deep breath to pause. Now it was her turn to choose her words carefully. "I think Star is a _fantastic_ political ally. She's outspoken, she's passionate, she's great at motivating others to join in the cause...we are truly lucky to have some like her on our side fighting the good fight. But that's not the same as being a queen. I can't even begin to fathom what turmoil she's experiencing in her mind, but you know as well as I do that a queen can't afford setbacks like that. It's just the nature of the position..."

"And it makes me grateful we are no longer in that position. At least...not the way we used to be..." Eclipsa took note of how Moon's voice droned out in that sentence.

"Something troubling you?"

After a brief hesitation, she stood up from her chair and took a few steps away from the table, deep in internal contemplation. "The other day when we brought Star home from her..._excursion_..." Referring to her sleep-helping stunt. "She said she felt guilty that _I _didn't get the reprieve that we're all trying to give her." That seemed to entice Eclipsa's attention completely into the conversation now. "Toffee killed my mother when I was around Star's age. I was very young & filled with grief when I ascended to the throne."

"You...weren't prepared for the burden."

"Heavens no. Not ethically, not factually, and certainly not emotionally. But I didn't have the benefit of my mother returning to reclaim what she lost. She was permanently gone. So I had to learn what it was like to be a ruler fairly quickly, and one factor they deemed the most critical for me to learn was emotional distance. 'You're not supposed to get emotionally attached to your kingdom. Keep the family at an arm's length. You're a queen first, family woman second.' So I always came off as cold and distant. I had to...at least that's what was always drilled into my head."

Eclipsa mulled over Moon's proclamation. Moon was always better at being a queen than she was at being a mother, but Eclipsa was always better at being a mother than being a queen. "They drilled that into every queen's head...every princess's head..."

"I had to drill it into my own daughter's head. And I am _extraordinarily _thankful it never sunk in for her. Although..."

"What?"

"...I think I would rather have Star hate _me_ than hate herself."

"It truly is fascinating the depths one's mind can plunge them into..."

Fascinating _and_ frightening. Although Star had not had an episode as severe since smashing a mirror with her bare fists in a violent rage (in Chapter 6 of **When Dimensions Cleave**), the fear it put into her friends & loved ones has stayed with them. It was never like Star had intentions or desires to self-harm. But the psychological scars left on everyone thanks to the age of magic & queens were only _just_ beginning to make themselves known. She was hardly the only one to suffer from them, she was just hit by far the hardest of anyone. Moon didn't have urges to harm herself or hallucinations of her reflection telling her how much of a bag of trash she was. Eclipsa didn't look in the mirror every day and despise the person looking back. Nor did River nor Globgor nor Marco. There were regrets abound, sure, but Star was on another level of self-loathing.

But she was working hard to get better. Every day. Even on her home vacation, she was still working...

"Eclipsa..." Moon finally spoke again after a prolonged, uncomfortable silence between the two. "Why did you decide on writing a book?"

At first it seemed like Eclipsa didn't quite understand the question posed. It felt like such an easy answer to give. _Because I wanted to_. But surely there was more to it than that, wasn't there? "Well...I felt like I had something I wanted to say. I wanted to share my experiences with the people of this new world. I wanted to unleash my voice. Why do you ask?"

"I suppose a part of me..." She sighed. Introspection was never fun. "I suppose I'm a little jealous of you."

Eclipsa's eyes opened so big they almost popped out of their sockets. "_You_? Jealous of _me?_ You must be pulling my leg."

Moon inexplicably began pacing around the table. "You're _so_ sure of yourself, so _confident_ in who you are, what you want to do, what you _stand for_. You're not afraid of whatever backlash may follow, you don't care who agrees or disagrees with you. Me? I could never take a step in any direction without fearing retribution from anyone that didn't care for the direction the kingdom was going in."

"Surely you must be daft, Moon. The mewmans were quite subservient to you and King River while you were in power."

"Eclipsa, please. Do you really believe 100% of mewmans agreed with everything our reign did? I certainly don't. The ones that disagreed simply kept quiet the majority of the time because...well, dissent wasn't highly encouraged in our environment..."

"And yet you were afraid of such dissent...?"

"I know, it doesn't really make much sense in hindsight, does it?"

Eclipsa stood up and acted as a wall for Moon, stopping her pacing and leading her back to her chair. "No, I think in a way it does. The monarchy forces everyone to give up pieces of themselves...the pieces that make them who they are. All for the "good of the kingdom. For the love of corn, there was an entire boarding school built entirely around stripping princesses of their individuality and branding them into "the perfect princess."

"A school that was run by _your_ daughter..." Moon reminded her. Not like she _needed_ the reminder.

"The person that she grew up to be her first go-around was _not_ my daughter!" She clapped back, clearing a nerve struck. "I would never have allowed her to endure any of the hell she endured!"

"You don't think I understand that!?" Now it was Moon's turn to clap back, but she quickly collected herself & calmed back down. "I was the one that always threatened to send Star there to get her into shape."

"Yet you never followed through."

She did a double-take at Eclipsa's statement. "What?"

"You never shipped her to that monstrous school. The only reason she ever set foot inside that place at all was to rescue a friend. And...I suppose start a revolution or something. S-Surely, subconsciously, you must have known something was wrong."

It was an angle that never even occurred to Moon. At least not like this. Sure, she threatened Star time and time again with shipping her off to that hell school for her poor behavior. But at no point did she seriously consider following through. If she had, especially knowing now what she knows, she would've never forgiven herself. And on the subjecting of knowing what she knows now, her mind wandered to the fact that said school only came to be thanks to a heinous, reprehensible act committed by people she once so dearly trusted...

Moon slammed the table in anger. "None of that would have ever happened if the Magic High Commission hadn't crystalized your husband & switched your daughter with a peasant girl!" It always seemed to circle back to that group, didn't it? "Confidants I trusted with my life, my soul...the kingdom..." Another deep breath, though this time it was much harder for her to come back down to tranquility. "All of them are rotten in their own special way: Hekapoo, Omnitraxus, Rhombulous-"

"Glossaryck?"

A moment of complete silence. Glossaryck - in all of his twisted ways - was somehow the most innocent of the Magic High Commission. Though he was of little consequential help from the time Star first received the wand to the moment magic was originally destroyed before the Cleaving, he was ultimately instrumental in helping bring down the other three once and for all during magic's temporary resurgence, finally abandoning his eternally neutral stance and choosing the side of peace & harmony over unearned loyalty. (**A/N: In the Wattpad version of "When Dimensions Cleave" I expanded a little further on this. I recommend you go read it there too but the short version is Glossaryck is the one responsible for switching Meteora & Festivia due to King Shastacan's abusive behavior towards her & fear that he would kill her out of retaliation for Globgor, then using his own magic to manipulate memories of the event happening, with the MHC taking credit for it anyway**).

"Yes...even him." Moon relented. "Though even _he_ put himself out there to help us set things right in the end."

"That is true."

"But is that...is that really something you want to put into your book? You do understand that our own people will probably pick it up and read it as well, don't you?"

"Of course I do. That's _why_ I decided to write it."

Moon cocked her and raised an eyebrow. Was she serious? "Are you joking?"

"No, why would I joke about something like that?" Eclipsa scoffed.

"What happened to everything you said about being at peace with yourself and not wanting to be liked for-"

"I'm not trying to change their minds, Moon. Some of our people are deadset in their belief that my tenure as queen was a mistake, that Star surrendering the throne was a mistake despite her good reasons for doing so, that the Magic High Commission's actions didn't amount to treason. And that's their business to have. I'm going to put this out there for our people to read, and if it convinces some of them to change their mind, that's wonderful. If it doesn't, I won't lose any sleep. None of us should. As long as it doesn't escalate further than harsh words..."

Moon nodded along. "That does make sense." Followed by a sigh. "It's just such a pity so many of them are having such trouble adapting to the new world...finding a purpose..."

"I have faith they'll find their way eventually, just like we did..."

Again, Moon cocked her head. "We?"

Which was met with Eclipsa "tsk-tsk-tsk"-ing her and chuckling. "Don't play dumb with me. You don't think I've seen you at work on your paintings? And that painting in place of Star's tapestry? Breathtaking! Moon, you have such tremendous talent."

The former queen's mouth was left agape. Her? Talent with the paintbrush? "Do you mean that?"

Eclipsa nodded. "Certainly."

"But how would you know? I haven't shown any of my work except for the one that replaced the tapestry."

A moment of silence as Eclipsa stood up from her seat & dusted her hands off. "Well...no time like the present?"

* * *

Carefully and quietly, they traversed to Moon & River's room - where the former king was still out like a light - and approached the large closet in the room. "Are you sure this is safe?" Eclipsa asked Moon in a whisper.

"Of course. We have nothing to fear, River's quite the heavy sleeper. That's where Star gets it from." She rummaged through the closet & came across a small stack of completed paintings. "Here. Tell me what you think of this one."

The painting in question was a watercolor painting featuring her and River in what could only be described as the Mewni equivalent of a gondola. There was a man in a tux playing a violin on one edge of the boat, which sat on a river stream surrounded by plants & flowers while the Mewni nighttime sky illuminated the area around them.

"It's _magnificent_!" Eclipsa loudly whispered in total delirium. She examined the painting more closely & soaked in the beauty of Moon's work. "Moon, you mustn't sell yourself short, you have _incredible_ talent."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Talent like this does not come by very often. What else do you have?"

Moon picked up another painting - this time one of Eclipsa & Globgor ascended on their King & Queen thrones and waving to their subjects, smiles as wide as could get. "I thought you and Globgor would appreciate something like this."

"Oh my word it's _lovely."_ She brought the painting closer to her and held it to her heart. "Would you mind if I held onto this one?"

"Oh, heavens, not at all." She proudly released her grip on the painting, allowing Eclipsa to claim it entirely.

"Moon I _cannot_ believe our people aren't more acquainted with your talent. These are some of the most polished paintings I've ever seen."

"Really?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing from her.

"Now don't do this just because _I_ suggested it, but...if you really wanted to, you could absolutely make a career out of this. It could be your post-monarchy calling!"

"It could?"

"Yes!" Eclipsa quieted herself down enough before she could further risk waking River. "Look at it this way: we've _all_ been trying to find our own voice post-monarchy. Star was right: _we_ have a choice in what we do now...when we're not helping with the Cleaving, that is. I have my writing passion, and you..."

"I could be an artist." A smile slowly - very slowly - crept onto Moon's face. "As embarrassed as I am to admit it...I've never been more zen or relaxed than when I've been painting. It's almost like I'm in an entirely different world, one that...that _I_ can literally create with my strokes. One that emulates peace, prosperity, calm..."

"Moon, darling...there's nothing to be ashamed of." It was almost like Moon _wanted_ to believe Eclipsa but couldn't quite bring herself to do so yet. "This is who you want to be. Embrace it. Forge that new identity!"

Finally the smile was fully formed. Moon was on board. "You know what? You're absolutely right. I want to put old Queen Moon on the shelf once and for all, and perhaps this is how that'll finally happen!"

"That's the spirit! I'm so elated for you, I can only dream of what we're going to see from you."

"That makes two of us, but where on Earthni would I even begin?"

A short recess for Eclipsa to gather her thoughts. She had an idea in the back of her head; it was just a matter of whether she thought it was appropriate to bring up. But any concerns she had quickly abated after their talk. "Actually, Moon...I think I have an idea...if you're willing, of course."

"...What did you have in mind?"

* * *

The following morning saw a slightly tired Star & Marco find Moon & Eclipsa in the study room. All four of them had been up all night, but first glances at Eclipsa & Moon wouldn't give that impression. "...Mom?" Star asked meekly into the room, drawing the two former queens from their trance.

"Oh, good morning, deary!" Eclipsa happily exclaimed, with her smile slightly fading after gauging their energy levels. "You two look disheveled. Did you sleep well?"

"We slept _great_. We just didn't sleep _long_." Star clarified, hugging Marco's shoulder tighter. "Marco and I wanted to see if we could go all night."

"Oh, I see..." Eclipsa & Moon winked at each other, and then they devolved into teenage snickering. "And did that go well?"

"Nah, we crashed at about 3 A.M." Marco chimed in, followed by a yawn.

"Well, you still slept more than we did." Moon answered, even though you still couldn't tell based on her smile that she had been up all night.

"You guys were up all night? What the heck were you doing?"

Moon turned to Eclipsa, her smile even wider now. "Should we show them?"

"Oh what's the harm?"

Excitedly, Moon picked up what she had been working on: it was a painting, but not just any painting. This painting consisted of everyone in the Butterfly family - plus Marco - huddled together in what could only be described as a professional portrait. All of them were dressed in fancy garb with smiles on their faces. At the top of the painting read, "Trials, Tribulations, Triumphs, and Tragedies: The Story of the Kingdom of Mewni, as Told By Eclipsa Butterfly." That was the working title for Eclipsa's impending book. Star & Marco expressed sheer delight & amazement.

"M-Mom, did _you_ paint that?"

"Yes, I did." She responded, visibly proud of her accomplishment.

"I asked your mother if she would paint the cover of my book. She has tremendous talent as a painter."

"I agree!" Marco exclaimed happily "This looks great. I-I didn't know you were this much into painting, I-I thought it was just..."

"A hobby?" Marco nodded in response. "So did I. But...the more time has passed, the more I've realized how much I genuinely enjoy it. It brings me so much joy & fulfillment. So much so that...that I think I'm going to pursue a career in painting, and this book cover is going to be my opening act!" The unprovoked announcement spurned such elation from the two lovebirds that their fatigue was temporarily forgotten about as they ran up to Moon & Eclipsa, embracing them both.

"I'm so happy for you, Mom!" Star shouted joyously. "I can't wait for this book to be finished!"

Those words brought out a beaming smile from Eclipsa that was known only to fairy tales. "Really?"

Star nodded rapidly. "You have such a beautiful voice that everyone needs to hear. A-And what you and everyone said about _me_ was really sweet; I know that one day I'll learn to love it. I'm just happy for you," She turned to Moon. "A-And for you too, Mom."

She embraced her daughter once more. "I don't want to be known as just Queen Moon any longer. I don't want _us_ to be known only as the royal family. We all have mountains of potential to be whatever we want to be."

"EXACTLY!" Star screeched, nearly jumping out of her skin in joy before the four of them engaged in another hug. This was a breakthrough everyone had been hoping for, and now it seemed to finally be here. Whether or not this breakthrough would be shared with their people in the world remained to be seen. But for now, none of that mattered to any of them.

* * *

**End of Episode 20!**

**Mentioned this in the middle of the chapter but all my fics are on Wattpad as well and some of them (specifically When Dimensions Cleave and Unforgettable Getaway) have slightly expanded material. I call those the "expanded versions" of my stories, but it's not that much. And that's only because I decided to start uploading there after I was deep into these stories. Oh well.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please stay safe & well out there. And as always, reviews & feedback are appreciated :)**


	21. Up River's Creek (Part 1)

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 21: Up River's Creek (Part 1)**

**Episode Summary: A hunting mishap-turned-disaster results in River facing significant punishment under Earthni's - mainly Earth's - legal system, as well as a massive backlash from the integrated mewmans. But when the facts don't line up cleanly, Star & the rest of the cast take it upon themselves to clear River's name. **

**Original Release Date: June 23, 2020**

* * *

This fine Earthni day saw Star, Marco, Janna, Tom, Jackie, & Chloe all gathered in Star's bedroom, playing a rousing game of Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, Alfonzo & Ferguson were still exercising their self-imposed protest against D&D with the group if Star was the Dungeon Master. And yes, it was still as dumb today as it was back when they first whined about it.

"Uh oh, Jackie! You and Chloe have been _captured_!" And once again, Star was reveling in the joy of being the Dungeon Master. "And you're about to face the wrath of the Bogbeast of Boggabah!" She was being _especially_ flirtatious with Jackie. Not that either Jackie or Chloe minded. Heck, the more the merrier, they thought.

"Hold it!" Jackie interrupted. "What kind of trap?"

Star gave it a brief moment of thought. "Rope net." She replied with a smug smirk.

"I can cut it." Jackie held up her set of dice. Star followed suit.

"Only if you roll higher than me." They both exchanged competitive but playful glares at each other. "You haven't had much luck with the dice today, skater girl."

"That's all about to change, _princess_ Butterfly." They reveled in getting caught up in the game, and it was all in good fun.

"Too bad I can't be trapped in there with you guys, but it seems like a tight squeeze. Would be a lot more fun breaking us all out of there, though."

"...what?"

"What?"

Unfortunately, their fun was about to be interrupted. There was a knock at Star's door. It was Eclipsa, Globgor, and Moon standing there.

"Star?" Eclipsa asked. "We, um...we need you to come with us."

The girl raised an eyebrow, gently setting her dice down on the game board. "...Is it urgent? W-"

"Unfortunately it is." Globgor answered back, rather sternly. "See, River is...he-"

"Your father's been arrested." Moon said coldly, cutting right to the chase as only she could. Absolute silence from the kids filled the air for a moment.

"_Arrested_?!" Marco finally exclaimed once it started to sink in for everyone. Janna broke out into hysterical laughter, mostly at Star's expense.

"Oh my god, _no way_!" She managed to exhale during her laughing fit. "First _you_, now your dad!? That's awesome!" Unfortunately her enthusiasm was not returned in kind; Star immediately covered Janna's mouth, but it was already too late.

"Star, what is she talking about?" Moon asked with an inquisitively raised eyebrow. Star never actually told her mother or anyone else about that incident. The former princess turned to Janna with a deadpanned, unimpressed glare. _Now_ she was getting it. She sighed & turned back to her mother.

"I accidentally damaged a cop car one time & had to perform community service." She said rather quickly.

"...That's it?" And, shockingly, Moon was unimpressed that _that_ was the extent of it. "I thought it would've been something more."

Star's jaw nearly came unhinged. "Wha-" But she quickly snapped back to reality. "Never mind, not important!" She stood up in a haste, with the others quickly following suit. "So...what was Dad arrested for?"

* * *

They all ventured off to the police station where River was being held. They were led to his cell by one of the officers working there, all while explaining what exactly River was being held for. "...Illegal hunting!?" Star exclaimed once they were all face-to-face with River...behind bars, at least.

"We found him next to the deceased body of an Asian Black Bear." The officer explained to them, taking out a file, opening it, and showing them a photo of River standing over the body of a fallen Asian Black Bear. Admittedly, River appeared utterly terrified in the picture, but that only helped so much. In the corner of the photo, there was what appeared to be a hunting rifle laying on the ground.

"...okay, time out. What's an _Asian _Black Bear doing here in Los Angeles?" Janna exclaimed.

"Janna, the Cleaving screwed up everything geographical." Star lamented, face-palming lightly. "It was only a matter of time before something like this happened." The doors to River's cage open, allowing him to shimmy out of the cage onto the outside.

"I swear on the many gods of Mew-erm, _Earthni_...i-it's not what you think." River pleaded, but his pleas were interrupted by the cop handing him a ticket. "And what's this now?"

"A court summons." He told them sternly. "You're being charged with Illegal hunting _and_ illegal use of a firearm, Mr. River."

"...River is my _first_ name, good sir." River corrected him...which didn't sit well with the cop.

"Whatever you say, sir. We'll see you in court." The officer left the group to their business, expecting that they would leave rather quickly. Which they did. The less time they spent in that place than was necessary, the better.

* * *

They quickly traversed back to the castle where they settled down in one of the study rooms. River was clearly shaken at the incident that just transpired, as was everyone else. The former king of Mewni? Arrested? On what was essentially Earth soil? "Okay, Dad..." Star said calmly, patting her father's shoulder in support. "Tell us _exactly_ what happened. Don't leave out _any_ details."

River nodded silently, followed by a deep breath & a brief moment of silence. "Alright...I was out on a nighttime hunting spree."

"I didn't realize you still did that."

"Well I hadn't since, well, _you-know-what_ happened. But I figured it was time to resume something that resembled my normal routine!"

**_[Flashback]_**

**_It was the dead of night. The nighttime Earthni sky cast a gorgeous, dim light over the land. The open fields adjacent to Echo Creek were nearly abandoned...nearly. In the distance, River was out and about, undergoing a round of nighttime hunting. Back when Mewni was still just Mewni, it was a routine he frequently engulfed himself in, mostly as a stress reliever. His form of nighttime hunting consisted of him chasing wild animals - animals that couldn't be classified as monsters because they were literally mindless - while wielding a sword._**

**_Tonight, his intended victim was a creature that appeared to be at least highly similar to that of the Asian Black Bear. River gave it one heck of a chase all over the fields. The chase was harsh & quick, and by the end of it, River managed - without even realizing it - to plunge his sword into the beast's torso, causing it to fall over instantly. For some reason, this was a cause for celebration in River's eyes. And that's exactly what he did. It was a rather over-the-top celebration too, one that only stopped when his eyes opened when he discovered that the animal he had hunted was, in fact, not moving, which immediately raised a red flag in his head._**

_**River liked to hunt in his spare time for sport, but never to kill. Only for the thrill of it. When magic still existed and Mewni was still Mewni, River's hunting swords were specifically, for lack of a better term, "magic'd" so that none of his sword thrusts ever actually killed any animals he hunted. And even with that in mind, River was still careful while hunting, only thrusting his sword deep enough to cause them to be rendered helpless, not dead. He chased the thrill of the hunt, not the actual prey itself. Since the end of magic and the Cleaving of Earth & Mewni, River felt he had to put it aside for the time being while everything was straightened out. Tonight was his first fore-lay back into the mix.**_

_**And it couldn't have gone any worse. The animal was indeed dead.**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

"So you _did_ go hunting last night." Moon lamented sternly, clearing disappointed in her husband. "I thought we agreed you would put a halt to your nightly excursions until we've sorted out all the ramifications of the Cleaving."

"Yes, Moonpie, we did." River lamented. "But I've been absolutely _bored_ out of my mind! I thought it would be safe. I don't even understand what went wrong! I never hunt to kill!"

"Perhaps, but you _can_ get carried away sometimes without realizing."

"That might be true, but I don't think it's that simple this time." Janna interrupted, drawing everyone's attention her way.

"Why do you say that?"

"That photo the cop showed us at that precinct...there was a hunting rifle on the ground off to the corner..." Janna explained. "You guys don't _use_ hunting rifles, do you?"

River and Moon both looked at each other, then back at Janna. "What is a _hunting rifle-_"

"_Exactly_."

There was the kicker: why would a crime scene photo explicitly display a weapon that River doesn't actually use...but not the one that he does use? "Are you suggesting my husband is being set up?"

"I'm saying the facts don't make sense." Janna turned to the others. "I say we go out there and check this out for ourselves...get to the bottom of what the heck's actually going on."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Marco objected. "Wouldn't it be better to just let the cops handle it? They're the ones with the resources and knowledge to investigate & get all the fa-" Slowly Marco broke down from his speech into uncontrollable laughter. He was the only one laughing, but everyone sympathized. "I-I'm sorry I can't even finish that with a straight face." The boy saw his girlfriend was about to question something. "I'll explain later."

"But how would we even go about this?" Globgor asked, finally speaking up again. "I've been researching how Earth - rather, _this country_ \- conducts criminal investigations. I'm fairly certain the bear's body is no longer in the woods. We won't simply be able to go out and examine the body or crime scene."

* * *

That night, when the sky was dead pitch-black and everyone in the town was asleep, the group reconvened - all sporting some form of sleepwear, with Star sporting a black leather jacket over her black sleepwear - & trekked out to the spot in the woods where the ill-fated hunting incident occurred. Incredibly enough, the body of the slain black bear was still there, only now surrounded by crime scene tape...poorly put-up crime scene tape.

"Huh...well I'll be damned." Globgor commented upon seeing the slain bear's body still there.

"If it makes you feel any better, this isn't regular procedure; it's incompetence." Janna commented with a sly chuckle. "Okay, so how the heck are we going to do this?"

"Good question..." Star took a moment to examine her surroundings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There wasn't any immediate sign that they would be intruded on or spotted, which was quite unusual for a crime scene. A normal crime scene would have a crime scene unit on hand to examine the area for evidence and cops standing around trying to protect the integrity of the scene. All of this only made Star more suspicious. "Okay..." She turned to her folks. "Mom, Dad, Eclipsa, Globgor, you guys keep guard of the outside. Let us know if anyone looks like they're coming our way."

"But pumpkin, wouldn't we be more useful in there?" River asked, pointing towards the dead body. "I want to get to the bottom of this mess!"

"Yeah, so do we, Dad. But you can't exactly investigate your own crime scene."

"Maybe not, but is it even ethical for _us_ to be here right now?" Eclipsa pondered.

"Probably not, but I don't have a good feeling about leaving this to the authorities."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one..." She looked behind her to see that Marco had joined in the rest of the group examining the dead body as well as the immediate area surrounding the body. "Marco told me a _lot_ of stories about what...for lack of a better term..."bad policing" on Earth was like. There's _way_ too much of that going on, and that's with a system that, honestly...is probably a little better than what Mewni had."

"What are you talking about?" Moon objected.

"Come on_,_ Mom. Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. Nine times out of ten trials consisted of the kingdom telling the defendants they were guilty and refusing to hear any shreds of evidnece that they might've been innocent. The only reason Eclipsa's trial was so different was because of that deal you and she made when you were an early queen."

Moon sighed. "...ugh, that's true. Bu-"

"Star!" Came a voice from the group behind them. They all turned to see it was Jackie. "We're gonna canvass the woods, see if we can find anything. Wanna come help?"

Uh oh, Star's face went red again. Her on-again, off-again attraction to Jackie was still a thing, and this was hardly an appropriate time for it to be coming up. "U-Uh, s-sure! Be right there!" Jackie gave her a thumbs up before running off. Star briefly turned back to her folks. "So, um...yeah I'm gonna...gonna go with the hot skater girl for a bit..."

Eclipsa giggled; seeing her goddaughter embrace her bisexuality was a beautiful, albeit funny, sight. "Just remember to breathe, dear." Star nodded rapidly before taking off with the skater girl in question.

* * *

So Star & Jackie went off in one direction, deep into the woods to look for _anything_ they could use to help clear River's name. "So what exactly are we looking for?" Jackie inquired.

"No idea. Just _anything_ that might help us figure out what the heck's going on." Their search led them to scope out the area; digging up some of the dirt, eyeballing the trees, rustling through the bushes, you name it. In the early parts of their search, they turned up nothing. And the frustration slowly built up in Star's psyche. She felt the negativity clouding her mind. What would happen to River if they couldn't find anything to clear his name? What punishment potentially awaited him? Was there more to this than any of them realized? Why else would the circumstances surrounding this "crime" be so suspicious?

Well all of those thoughts plus a continued strain on her physical health resulted in Star tripping over a branch that was next to a tree that they hadn't come across yet. She hit the ground hard, but it was in her trying to get up that caused even more problems; her erratic & sick heart acted up again, causing her too much pain to even attempt to stand. Luckily her screams of agony were heard by Jackie several feet away. The skater girl hustled to the fallen princess. "Hey! Hey..." She knelt down and turned Star on her back, seeing her clutching her chest in pain & biting on her tongue. "It's alright, I'm here. S-Should I get-"

"No!" She grunted through her teeth. "No...j-just give me a minute. It'll pass..." She begged her.

"It'll _pass_!?"

"This isn't anything new. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"How long has this been going on?!" It was evident to Star that Jackie was absolutely terrified for her. It occasionally slipped Star's mind that not _everyone_ was privy to the full extent of her problems.

"I...I've forgotten. I think since I was working for Eclipsa, but that's not important." Slowly the pain was beginning to subside; Star was able to sit up on her own and lean against the tree. She huffed & puffed several times, each successful breath slower & more controlled than the previous. Jackie, completely out of her element but desiring to comfort her, sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Ms. Cher was right, I _don't _handle stress well. At all. Gah, I wish I had answer for what's wrong with me."

"Hey, hey, easy...chill girl." Jackie rubbed her shoulder before taking the extra step of scooting closer & pulling into a full hug. "You're gonna be okay. No way we're letting anything happen to you." Jackie was hugging her awfully closely, her face smushed up against Star's, something that made the girl's face go almost completely red.

She sighed. "Thanks Jackie." And then responded in kind by hugging Jackie back. _Her cheeks are so soft..._ She thought to herself. Jackie pulled away from the hug & gave her a reassuring smile. _And her eyes are so **pretty**..._ To be young and to play on both teams. Jackie's eyes drifted off to behind the tree...where something of interest was sticking out. "What?"

She stood up and peered around behind the tree. Lo and behold, sitting there was the hunting rifle. The nozzle was sticking out from the ground; it appeared as though someone tried to bury it underground and did a fairly poor job of it. "I...think I found something." Star - ignoring the heart pain - stood up in a haste and joined her. "Is this it?"

"Only one way to find out. We gotta get it tested for fingerprints & gunshot powder." Jackie turned her head to look at Star like she had four heads, something that Star only picked up on after a brief silence. "Marco's parents watch a lot of cop shows." And then Star had to stop Jackie from half-hazzardly touching the rifle. "Wait! Fingerprints, remember?" In a haste, Star reached her hand into Jackie's back pocket, rummaging through it for at least a few seconds.

"Um, what are you doing?" Jackie asked, perplexed at the motion, only to put the pieces together when she saw Star was holding a pair of gloves.

"Latex gloves. You know, to keep the fingerprints on the gun." Star explained about as awkwardly as one could. No, she wasn't doing what you think she was doing - though you know she gave it some thought - but it was only _after_ Star had pulled out the gloves that she realized how bad it might've looked.

"Oh...right..." Jackie awkwardly took the gloves & put them on, walking over to the rifle to pick it up and leaving Star to her own devices for the moment.

"_Why did you do that!? You __stupid_!" Star berated herself with a loud face-palm. She was so distracted by her own stupidity that she completely missed that Jackie, while picked up the rifle, was blushing & smiling.

The two retraced their steps back to the edge of the forest, where the body lay. They found Marco climbed up onto a nearby tree, appearing to check something out on one of the branches. "Hey Marco! We got the rifle!" Star shouted to him as Jackie held it up. "What're you doing up there?"

"There's little hidden cameras on all of these trees." Tom explained on the ground, pointing out to each of the nearby trees. "They're on every tree."

"Brother Eye watches our every move..." Janna joked, only earning groans from Tom.

Jackie & Star took it upon themselves to inspect the trees. Indeed, the others were correct; each tree had at least one hidden camera poking out somewhere in clever camouflage. Some trees had several cameras. Star's attention was temporarily taken from the cameras once she saw her folks approaching the group again. "There's hidden cameras in these trees!" Star yelled to them. "Maybe one of these cameras caught what actually happened!"

"Ooh, we should ask Amanda if she'll let us look at the footage!" Eclipsa declared...which drew cocked heads & raised eyebrows from the teens. "Amanda...your friend..." Still nothing registering. "Painted hearts on her cheeks, ice cream cones for horns..."

_Now_ the lightbulbs were going off. "Oh you mean Starfan13! Wait...how do you know this is _her_ work?"

"Trust us...it's her work." Janna said deadpanned, patting Star's shoulder.

* * *

The adults took the group to Starfan13's house. For some reason, she was up at this late hour _and_ she was eager to let the group into her room while her parents slept. "Oh this is totally my work!" She loudly whispered to them.

"But how?"

"While you and lover boy were on your trip and everything was, like, in chaos & stuff, I was hired by the mayor to be in charge of all the security cameras in Echo Creek!" Since everyone else in the group was actually present in Echo Creek at the time, this information didn't take them by surprise. Star & Marco, however, were shocked & taken aback. A brief moment of silence passed while the adults started to check out the tapes at the girl's consent. "What?"

"...Your name is Amanda?!" Marco barked in a loud whisper. The girl nodded. "Are Star and I the only ones that didn't know that?!"

"Apparently so." Janna smugly answered him.

"Why did we never know that?" Star couldn't help but ask.

"Because...because I don't like that name." She admitted, crossing her arms and looking away in shame.

"Aww, but it's such a pretty name."

"No it's not. It's icky! It has the word "man" in the middle! Say it wrong, and it sounds like you're saying "A man..._**DUH**__!_ It's just gross & unpleasant!" Her passionate spiel was met with lukewarm reception by the teens. "What? Am I the only girl that's bothered by this?"

"You are literally the only person in the entire _multiverse_ that's taking an issue with that." Janna said to her rather dryly. "Can we get back to the important things, please?"

"Kids, we think we've found something!" Eclipsa loudly whispered, getting their attention. They all gathered around the computer screens on Starfan13's desk. Footage played showing the events of the night in question, the night that landed River in such hot water. For the time being, the events played out exactly as River described them...that is until they got to the point where River incapacitated the bear and decided to celebrate to himself. The celebration lasted for a ridiculous amount of time, and all the while River was none the wiser to what was happened behind him. And what was actually happening?

A group of three figures - it was debatable whether they were humans or mewmans - surrounded the bear with the stab wound and quickly - and sloppily - dragged the body away. Another group of three figures - again their identities were indistinguishable - moved into the scene dragging another, nearly identical bear body onto the scene, this one with a gunshot wound instead of a stab wound. "The heck..." Marco muttered to himself. As the footage continued, it picked up as River described it, with him ceasing his celebration and realizing that the body that now lay in front of him was dead, as opposed to the one the first group had dragged away.

The footage continued, with what appeared to be a police officer confronting River, River pleading with the officer that something was wrong, and then the officer tackling River, subduing him, and then dragging him away, presumably to the police station. The groups from earlier returned, hastily wrapping the area in sloppy crime tape. Everything about how the events played out reeked of suspicion, and the adults' reactions of utter disgust & disdain reflected that of the teens.

"This is outrageous!" Moon almost roared. "They are clearly enacting a cover-up, twisting the facts to fit whatever narrative they want to spin."

"I don't even understand why they would do this." Marco interjected, making his way over their shoulders to get a better view of the computer. "Echo Creek already has strict "no hunting" laws anyway, they could've just punished River while enforcing _those_ laws without going through the trouble of..._this_." Marco looked over at River, who looked like he had just laid eyes on an Advanced Calculus problem. "No offense, sir."

"None taken, my boy."

"To go through all of that just to make it seem like River's guilty of something...only slightly more reprehensible...it just doesn't make sense to me."

"It does if there's an agenda behind the scenes that we don't know about." Star proposed.

"What? You mean an agenda _besides_ typical police corruption & abuse of power?" Janna half-joked. Star, however, did not give off a reaction. "I'm not kidding."

Marco lightly tapped Star's shoulder to get her attention. "_She's really not_." He carefully emphasized.

"Okay, so what do we do with this information now? I'm assuming those _cops_ already have this footage and they're going to try to spin it in some way to screw Dad over."

"That's not the impression I got when they paid me a visit." Starfan13 intervened, drawing everyone's attention directly to her. Now that's a bombshell.

"What are you implying?"

"Oh so this group of cops barged into my house and scared my parents, and then they approached me & tried to sweet talk me into destroying the tapes that corresponded with that call in the woods."

A moment of bewildered silence passed. "Wait a minute...they tried to bribe you into destroying criminal evidence?" Tom inquired, eyes wide open in shock. Her vision turned to the footage playing on her computer. "So I guess you didn't do it, then."

"Nope. But I managed to trick them into thinking I did." Starfan13 gleamed proudly. "Plus, I got _that_ exchange on tape too."

"You have cameras in your own house?"

"I have cameras all over the place! But I only use them for good!"

"On the record, at least." Janna intervened, smugly smiling at Star & Marco. "Off the record..." She turned specifically to Marco. "Where do you think I got the camera I put on your body?"

Marco loudly gasped while Star's and every other teen's jaw nearly hit the ground. "_You put a hidden camera on Marco_!?" Star exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was when we were driving ourselves nuts trying to figure out how I got to Mewni."

"How could you? That's a _massive_ invasion of his privacy!"

"Umm..." Janna hesitated. "Technically it's a massive invasion of _your_ privacy." She evilly grinned, while Star feign offense & Marco feigned confusion. "Or did you just think that I wanted to record your hoodie the whole time?" Janna said to Marco rather passive-aggressively. Suddenly the conversation was getting a bit awkward, and this was hardly the time for that. So in a quick haste, Starfan13 helped whip up CDs of the exact footage the group deduced they needed: footage of the event in question that threw the officers' account of River's crime in dispute, as well as footage of Starfan13's account of the officers entering her home & attempting to bribe her into destroying the footage of the evidence. It was also agreed upon that they would need to keep a close eye on the officers in question in case they decided to start talking about the case openly.

Once that was all settled, everyone started to diverge from Starfan13's room, with the adults going first and the teens lagging behind, especially with Star in the mood to confront Janna. "You put a hidden camera on my boyfriend." She said flatly, not amused at all.

"Technically this was _before_ he was your boyfriend." Janna again responded slyly. She was enjoying this.

"Well the joke's on you, missy, because Marco doesn't _need_ yours _or_ Starfan's hidden cameras anymore. He can use _his _camera _any time_ he wants." Well, that's...a comeback. One that no one - especially poor Marco - was ready for. "And by the way, Marco, that's _not_ a request. A picture of _this_ bubble butt is worth _more_ than a thousand words." With that, she triumphantly took her leave as if she had won something. What did she win exactly?

"What just happened?" Marco asked, echoing everyone's questions, including the readers. Jackie patted his shoulder & chuckled.

"I think you just reached second base." She briefly hugged him before joining Janna in taking their leave. Now Marco & Tom were the only ones left that had to leave, and the demon prince made it very clear that he was impressed.

"Marco, dude...what's your secret?" He ragged on him, nudging his arm playfully. The red-hooded boy had to come up with something very fast.

"Um...m-my cute, boyish charm?" And that was the last word they had on the subject before taking their leave.

* * *

Everyone decided that they would take shelter in the Butterfly castle for the night, seeing as it had been far too late for everyone to return to their respective homes without causing a ruckus. The following morning saw everyone peacefully sleeping in different parts of the castle...with the exception of Star. At 6 A.M., it was _way_ too early for her to be awake, and these days on a normal morning, she'd usually have at least several more hours of sleep in her. But not today. Her mind was racing too fast for her to be able to relax. She found herself sitting out in the garden - right by the graves of Queen Solaria & Mina Loveberry - contemplating the state of affairs.

Her desolate silence was briefly interrupted when she looked up from her malaise & noticed her father approaching her. "Star?"

"Hey Dad." She said somberly as he took it upon himself to take a seat next to her.

"Can't sleep either?"

"Nope." She wrapped an arm around her father's shoulder. It was clear to him that the stress of him potentially suffering grave consequences for what was beginning to look like a massive cover-up was getting to her. "Been thinking about last night."

"Oh, that." River's confidence that things would turn out fine was high; the same could not be said for Star. "No need to worry, pumpkin. I have faith that we'll pull through this ordeal with our dignity and reputations in tact!"

"I'm glad someone does."

"Why wouldn't I? It's just a mere test of your boyfriend's...erm..._justice_ system. But your mother and I have been doing our own research on the matter. We think we have the ins and outs of what Earth people call a "trial" down pat."

"You do realize that was _before_ the Cleaving, don't you? I don't think it's gonna be _exactly_ the same as it was before everything turned to chaos. And even if I'm wrong, that's hardly the point."

"I don't follow you."

Star sighed & reached into her pocket, taking out her phone & pulling up a video to show him. "Starfan-erm-_Amanda_...sent this to me this morning." The video in question was an overhead shot of an office, with several police officers and what appeared to be a police lieutenant gathered around. Except there was a problem. It didn't look like any police station Star had ever seen before. And that's because it _wasn't_. It was merely a room painted & designed to look like a police station, and the people occupying the room weren't actually police officers. Sure they _looked_ like police officers, but they weren't on any records or payrolls.

"You _dragged_ the body!?" The person dressed in the lieutenant's gear hissed at the others.

"We panicked! We didn't know if we would have enough time!"

"Ugh, okay fine, but _tell me_ you disposed of the gun!"

"Y-Yeah, I'm pretty sure!"

"You're _pretty sure_!? That doesn't inspire confidence, fool!"

"Look, sir, you got nothin' to worry about. This'll all be over soon! King River will be in jail, and then we can go for the big prize!"

"The girl?"

"The girl."

Just as quickly, Star shut off her phone and looked up to see River's big, wide eyes. A mixture of confusion, outrage, and fury filled him. "Big prize?"

"I was hoping this wasn't it..." Star said somberly as she stood up and began frantically pacing.

"Hold the meat, dear, what in the name of corn are they yammering about?" Compared to Star, River (and to a slightly lesser extent Moon) were very unfamiliar with Earth lingo, Earth traditions, mannerisms, etcetera. They had to learn fast, and unfortunately, this was not the optimal position to do that.

"It's a conspiracy...a cover-up." She lamented, barely able to look her father in the eye.

"But did I not commit the crime I'm being tried for?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Yes, you did, but that's not the point. T-They could've just left it at what you did: you illegally hunted wildlife using a sword, that would've been plenty for them to use to punish you. But they took it a step further, they _planted evidence_ to try you on a harsher crime!"

"Why would the fine people of Earth do such a horrid thing?"

Star shook her head rather harshly. "It's not Marco's people. It's ours." Again Star turned on her phone, setting up a side-by-side comparison of one of the "officers" in the video she just played and an actual Echo Creek police officer. "Look...the guys in the video? Their uniforms are a darker shade of blue. They're not standard Echo Creek uniforms. Dad, those guys are imposters! They're not real cops."

"Now don't say that. A slightly different shade of color doesn't automatically dismiss their potential credibility."

Once again Star pulled something up on her phone and showed it to River. "_This_ does." On the screen was a picture showing a big headline on a document; the headline read "Mewman Law Enforcement Integration Act."

"...oh, yes...that'll do it."

"The Mewman Law Enforcement Integration Act: it stipulates that citizens of Mewman descent that migrated to Earthni after the Cleaving - that want to join law enforcement agencies - can formally apply to participate at the Echo Creek Police Academy or adjacent law enforcement academies after a 90-day grace period. That grace period hasn't expired yet, which means there shouldn't be _any_ Mewman citizens on any sort of law enforcement agency payroll yet. So who are these guys!?"

"And what do they possibly _want_ with us?!" Came a voice in the not-so-far distance. Standing in the doorway that led to the garden was Eclipsa, Globgor - holding Meteora - Moon, and Marco. "You couldn't sleep either?" Both Star & River shook their heads. "Can't blame you."

"Why _do_ they want to go so hard after River?" Globgor asked, carefully rocking Meteora in his arms so that she wouldn't get antsy.

"They're not going after River." Star sighed, turning to them and sulking. "They're going after _me_."

Okay, _now_ Star was just confusing them. "You? I don't understand..."

"You heard what those guys said on the tape, didn't you? They said after they're done with Dad they're gonna go after "the girl." Who else could they possibly be talking about?" Star had to take a moment to collect herself. All of a sudden, it felt like the stakes were higher than they've been in a long time. "It hasn't been _all_ of them, obviously, but some of the mewmans are pretty damn pissed off at me."

"For the Cleaving? That wasn't planned, they can't-" Marco's attempt to reason with her failed.

"For _everything_, Marco. For turning the throne over to Eclipsa the "monster lover," to pushing them to accept her as their new queen...a whole bunch of them gave themselves over to Mina and Mom to join the Solarian army, and the ones that _didn't_ are resentful of me because I wasn't there when it first happened. We got back to Mewni late because Hekapoo closed all the damn portals and-" She was struggling not to let herself cry here. "They're going to try to stage a coup. I can feel it."

"A coup?"

"Yeah, to get _us_ thrown out of this new shadow council the mayor has us on. I just...I just have a bad feeling about it."

"But how do they expect to do that just by putting River in jail?"

"It's a test case. They wanna see if they can break us. They're starting small - a conspiracy to exaggerate the crime Dad actually committed so they can put him in jail. If that happens, someone will have to replace him on the council. And if they can do that to one of us, they can do it to _all_ of us...all just to get to the person they _really_ want to screw over: _me_."

"And you honestly believe they would?" Moon jumped in.

"If they're angry enough, yeah I do."

River placed a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder before bringing her in for a hug. "That is _not_ going to happen. We will make sure of that." He took a good long look into his daughter's eyes. "I intend to submit to my sins & take my appropriate punishment. What I will _not_ do is allow anyone to manipulate you, I, or any one of us into accepting facts that didn't happen, or accepting punishment that is unjust for crimes we did not commit."

"Keep the faith." Globgor chimed in again. "We'll make certain River has the best legal team he possibly can. And we _will_ make this right."

She desperately wanted to believe that. She _had_ to believe that. She slowly nodded in acceptance as Marco approached her to embrace her. It was always Marco's hugs that she looked forward to the most. It so badly eased her nerves. The adults all agreed to leave the two kids to their own devices for the time being. They had all accepted that she would always feel most comfortable around the boy. But they could only hug for so long before the girl felt compelled to break away. "My own people, Marco. My own people are trying to ruin us..."

"Don't you worry. It's going to be okay." He reassured her by pulling her into a kiss. Another thing that always calmed her nerves. "Let's talk about something else in the meantime. Oh, I know: you got to hang with Jackie last night while we did our sleuthing. How did that go?"

"Oh, uh, good! Good! We talked, we had fun, I, uh...I unconsciously put my hand in her back pocket." Well how's that for an admission. Evidenced by Marco's huge, shocked eyes, it would qualify as a bombshell. In the meantime Star's face was slowly turning a very dark shade of red. "She...she had latex gloves in...in her back pocket and...and we needed them so we...so we wouldn't lose the fingerprints."

His shocked eyes gave way to an impressed, rather smug glare from him as he put his hand up for a high-five. "Nice." And Star returned the high-five rather proudly.

* * *

**End of Episode 21!**

**Yes, this is going to be a two-parter. This is another episode where it started out as something different but as I was writing it I realized I had a better direction I thought I could take it in, so here we are. Originally it was just going to be about River needed to control his nervous, anxious energy to avoid more legal trouble. But then the gears started to turn lol.**

**Just a quick warning: the process of packing up our home & selling it & moving out is beginning to gain steam, so if updates start to slow down, that's why. I have no intention of quitting this story or writing Star vs works, so don't worry about that. But I don't want to just disappear off the face of the site either. **

**And as always, reviews & feedback are greatly appreciated! :)**


	22. Up River's Creek (Part 2)

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 22: Up River's Creek (Part 2)**

**Episode Summary: River's trial has arrived. What should've been a straightforward procedure over a misunderstanding has spiraled into a fight to stop a potential mewman coup before it even begins. **

**Original Release Date: July 2, 2020**

* * *

**A/N: Not sure why I feel compelled to say this but don't expect this chapter to be a perfect, completely accurate representation of a real-life trial. I feel like that would be a bit too boring for the readers. Expect a romanticized version of one, like what you'd see on "Law and Order."**

* * *

The trial of River Butterfly vs Echo Creek was but a couple of days away. Tensions were elevated everywhere. Nobody knew exactly what to expect. Until things got underway, people could only speculate. Unfortunately, that was what Star Butterfly found herself doing despite being on the clock; today she was working at the Echo Creek pet shelter, and she, along with her co-worker/boss, Hilda, were in the middle of washing a Doberman.

"Almost done you rascal." Star said to the dog in a sing-song voice. If you asked her, her time spent at the orphanage playing with the babies was more fulfilling. But her time spent caring for & playing with the animals at the shelter was just as fun. "You sure like to get dirty, don't you?" When they finally finished, they dried off the dog, opened up all the cages, and allowed them all to go out into the play area to run around & be free. "Spending time with these beautiful animals always calms my nerves. Same with the babies at the orphanage."

"How're you holding up?" Hilda asked her. Star had to contemplate her answer for a moment.

"...not well. The trial is tomorrow. There's a _lot_ at stake."

"Yup. Never a good time to see the hammer of justice come down on someone you know, moreso if it's not deserved." Poor, sweet Hilda. She was hopelessly out of touch with Star's true nature or her origin, but she was determined to be as supportive as possible anyway.

"Well we're not letting it end without a fight, that's for dang sure."

"That's the spirit! Fight the power! Dethrone the king! Legalize everything!" And now she was just rambling, which she figured out once she caught a glimpse of Star's tilted head & raised eyebrow. "...Am I rambling again?"

"Just a little." They shared a good laugh over the rambling. "So...do you have any advice?"

"Advice?"

"About the trial. You know...any tips or...or strategies that I..._we_ should-"

Hilda patted her shoulder. "Okay, I'm gonna level with you: this country tries to sell all of us on the idea of "justice." You know, things like "the truth will set you free," "everyone has the same rights," "the justice system is infallible." But it's not that simple, and not all of that malarkey is true."

"What do you mean?"

"You dig deep enough into the archives of life, you'll find so many heartbreaking stories of people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they weren't remotely involved in."

"That's awful."

"Damn right, and in some cases it takes literally _decades_ for them to be rightfully vindicated in the eyes of the law. Hell, many of them _never_ get vindicated."

Star gasped. Her world was getting rocked right now; she heard faint tales of the Earthly justice system from Marco, but hearing them now from Hilda as well was making it sink in rather harshly. "B-But accidents happen, don't they? I-It's not true that every single case of false prosecution is a result of corruption, greed, & power grabbing, is it?"

Hilda shrugged. "I can't say _every_ case is like that, but...wouldn't you agree that even _one_ is too many?"

Star couldn't help but nod along. It wasn't the same format or even the same stakes, but she knew all too well the dangers of a "rigged trial." Her mind immediately went to Eclipsa's trial, the day that her entire life was flipped upside-down. From the onset, everything was set up to work against Eclipsa. The Magic High Commission had all but made up their minds at the forefront, barely taking the proceedings seriously. Meanwhile, Star was hellbent on throwing it in their faces when the truth came out, and Moon was adamant she would get to the bottom of the potential conspiracy over Eclipsa's missing daughter. While the trial did properly showcase Eclipsa's..._questionable_ behavior, it also properly brought to light the misdeeds the MHC had committed, misdeeds that drastically & permanently changed the course of the kingdom. These events wouldn't have happened if Star wasn't so determined to uncover the truth no matter what the cost.

"Look, you want my completely unfiltered, straight-to-the-point advice?" Hilda asked; Star nodded. "My dad went to law school, and he said something to me that's always stuck with me. 'Trials are not about what you _know_ or what you _believe_. They're about what you can _prove_."

"...Is this one of those "distinctions without a difference" things?"

Hilda shook her head. "Open up just _one_ law book and you'll wish you could remain ignorant."

"Oof."

"You said it, kid." It was near time for Star to clock out for the day, so the two of them rounded up the animals, let them say goodbye to Star, and put them back into their kennels. "Tell your family I said hi. And good luck."

"Thanks, Hilda." Star somberly closed the front door behind her and went on her way. She had lots of prepping to do with her friends & family.

* * *

The day finally arrived for River's trial. On a normal day, it would be _way_ too early for anyone to even be up, but today was not an ordinary day. So much was at stake, a point that made itself more and more clear as the Butterfly & Diaz families watched from afar the dozens and dozens of people congregating into the Echo Creek East Courthouse. It was a mixture of monsters, mewmans, and Earth humans. Word had spread quickly; considering that the secret Butterfly shadow council was becoming less of a secret as time went along, it made sense that this case attracted so much attention.

"You ready?" Marco asked his nearly distraught girlfriend. She gave off a puppy-eyed look and shook her head.

"...No." She answered. "But we gotta do it anyway, don't we?"

"We've done everything we can. We've gotten all the evidence we can get. I...have a good feeling about this."

"I hope you're right. I really do..." Before Star could let the questions & doubts fill her mind, she looked up to see her therapist, Cassandra Cher, approaching them. "Miss Cher!" Star exclaimed, her spirits immediately risen.

"I'm here for moral support." She stated as Star gave her a quick hug.

"You know what's going on?"

"Oh yes, your family and friends have kept me in the loop the entire time. How are you holding up?"

Star shook her head slowly. "...I'm not. I barely slept last night."

"Remember your breathing, hon. And let your father's attorneys do their job." There was no use trying to dispute her point, so Star didn't bother. She could only accept Marco gently grabbing & squeezing her hand.

"Let's go inside. Our friends are already in. They're here for moral support."

"Aww...I have such good friends."

Ever so carefully, the group made their way into the courtroom. It was nearly dead silent; one could cut the tensions with a sword. The group made their way over to the row where Jackie, Janna, & Tom sat. They all quietly took their seats. Star & Marco sat especially close together, the boy gently squeezing Star's hand & kissing it, and the girl resting her weary head on his shoulder. There was no going back now.

* * *

The trial got underway. After intense & heated opening statements from both sides, it was time for the prosecution's side to call its witnesses. The first witness was one of the "officers" who was on the scene of River's arrests. From his immediate mannerisms on the witness stand, it seemed obvious that he was - for lack of a better term - one of the "weaker" members of that _fraternity_. He wasn't too skilled in keeping his cool and came off as incredibly nervous.

"Sir, can you describe the sequence of events on the night in question?" The prosecutor asked the witness. He took a deep breath.

"Well, uh, me and my squad got a call about a guy w-who was making noise and running around the woods, so, uh, w-we checked it out." Oh he was _extremely _nervous. "When we got there we...we saw the defendant doing a celebratory dance w-while he was holding a rifle."

"And how was the bear in question at that time?"

"The bear was dead, sir. G-Gunshot wound to the chest."

"What happened when your crew confronted him?"

"He, uh...he put up a fight, but we were able to subdue him & arrest him."

The prosecutor nodded. "Thank you." It was a brief questioning. In the eyes of the prosecution, they didn't need very long to make their case. As they would learn in time, that was a very egregious & sloppy position to take, as the defense was now _poised_ to tear their case apart. River's attorney stood up & slowly walked towards the witness stand.

"Now, it's your testimony that you and your crew arrived on the scene and discovered Mr. Butterfly celebrating his supposed "kill," is that correct?" The attorney's bluntness took the witness by surprise.

"U-Uh, y-yeah, that's right. That's what happened."

The attorney nodded, playing along as he was setting up the big catch. "Your honor, at this time I'd like to turn everyone's attention to Defense's Exhibit A..." He had a laptop hooked up to a projector wheeled in, settled right in front of the judge's bench. He took off of his table a DVD; specifically, the DVD that showed the footage of the conspiracy in question. This development suddenly made the witness, as well as the other "cops" in question - who were sitting directly behind the prosecution's table - start to panic, prompting the prosecutor to stand up.

"Objection! What is this?"

"I told you, Defense's Exhibit A. It's all in your discovery packet."

"...Dis-what!?" It would also be revealed in time, but it turned out that the prosecutor was also in on the cover-up. How nobody caught any of this sooner was bewildering, but it was all going to unravel soon enough. The prosecutor flipped through his stacks of papers, discovering - no pun intended - that the DVD in question was in fact part of the lists of evidence the defense had turned over to the prosecution's side. One would think that someone tasked with handling a case of this public importance would be more on top of things like this. "Judge, t-this is obviously some kind of trick."

The judge was completely unimpressed. "It's on _my_ list of discovery materials as well, Mr. Grimes." He said flatly. "If you didn't watch the material prior to today, that's your own fault."

"But where did they even get it from!? How do we know it's not doctored?"

"You can ask the source directly. This footage was obtained directly from Miss Amanda Jacobs, the girl in charge of our town's newly enhanced security system."

"She's not supposed to give that out willy nilly. Judge, they're supposed to get a search warrant o-or a subpoena o-"

"_Only_ if she refuses." The judge held up a small paper. "I have an affidavit here signed by her that says she not only didn't refuse, she wasn't even threatened with a subpoena." He turned to River's attorney. "You may proceed."

River's attorney nodded, setting in the DVD & queuing up the laptop to the moment in question. "Ladies and gentlemen, what I'm about to play is security footage taken on that very night. It will show you exactly what transpired that night, which will _directly_ contradict this witness's testimony here on the stand." He hit play, and the rest was history. The video showed exactly the opposite of what the witness described: River was hunting the bear - something that River has never denied - with his sword, not a gun as had been claimed. He stabbed the bear through the chest, causing it to collapse. River began celebrating rather vigriously...and then the bombshell. Just as they discovered the other day, the footage showed a group of "cops" - the witness being one of them - coming out and dragging the body away, with another group of cops bringing in a nearly identical body in its place, then River panicking & being ambushed by one of them, and then all six returning later on to sloppily tie up the crime scene.

The witness started to panic, realizing how quickly his testimony had already been discredited. "W-W-How do you know that hasn't been altered?!"

The attorney shook his head, returning to his desk and picking up more papers. "Affidavits from our experts, your honor. They testify to this tape's authenticity." The judge nodded.

"Oh yeah, w-well where's the so-called sword, then!? Huh!?"

"Hmm...that's a good question, actually. But seeing as _I_ wasn't the one that handled that sword - as the video clearly showed - perhaps _you_ could tell us what you and your group of officers did with the sword." Stone cold silence from the witness. So far it was looking up for River's team. But the attorney was far from done. "Sir, would you please tell the court your place of origin?"

The witness cocked his head and hesitated for a moment. "Um...M-Mewni? Is that right?"

"Very good, and are you familiar with the Mewman Law Enforcement Integration Act?"

All of a sudden, the witness's eyes shot open, as did the eyes of the "cops" in the gallery who had taken part in this. The prosecutor, however, did not share their shock & disdain, for some reason. "N-Never heard of it." He did, however, have disdain for _that_. A cop's job is to know the laws inside and out, especially recently passed legislation. Or at least that's what he believed.

River's attorney took out another sheet of paper. "The Mewman Law Enforcement Integration Act...I quote, "_citizens of Mewman descent that migrated to Earthni after the Cleaving - that want to join law enforcement agencies - can formally apply to participate at the Echo Creek Police Academy or adjacent law enforcement academies after a 90-day grace period."_ The attorney looked up from the paper at the witness, who looked like a circuit in his brain had just fried. "Are you aware that the grace period for the act hasn't passed yet?" He did not get an answer from the witness. "Since the grace period has not passed...how did you assume the position of officer with the Echo Creek police force?"

The "cops" sitting behind the prosecutor began to annoyingly tap on his shoulder, urging him to raise an objection, and they grew visibly anxious when the prosecutor did nothing.

"Uh...I-I don't remember. I don't have a good memory, ya'know?"

The attorney was not buying it at all. Neither was the jury nor the judge. "I see. Just one other thing...what fabric is your uniform made out of?" Another dagger into their story was to be placed.

"Um...I-I'm pretty sure it's made out of...uh..."

"Because it's a well known fact that the uniforms of Echo Creek police officers are made specifically out of _silk_. Are yours?" The witness, at this point, had nothing else to offer. There was nothing he could say that wouldn't further crucify whatever credibility he had left. "I'm finished with the witness."

* * *

The majority of the trial went in a very similar fashion. The prosecution would call their witnesses - mostly the "cops" involved in the incident, attempting to put out a front that the incident was legitimate and that nothing was out of the ordinary, only to have their facade shattered with brilliant cross-examination from River's attorney. Eventually the prosecution's side ran out of witnesses and had no choice but to rest their case. Theoretically, River's attorney could have made a motion to dismiss the charges on the basis that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to support its case. But that was not going to happen. Instead, they decided to twist the knife a little bit more.

The defense's first witness: the Echo Creek police force's chief, a fact that sent the "cops" into another panic. "Chief Oblenson," The attorney began. "Is it true that you have a comprehensive list of _every_ law enforcement officer that works for the police department?"

"That is correct. We have comprehensive rosters for every single individual department. It's the only way we can keep track of all the recruits coming in and the veterans going out."

"To your best estimate, how many officers would you say you currently employ?"

"Um...about 2,000, give or take."

"I see." The attorney returned to his table to retrieve yet another piece of paper, bringing it to the stand. "This sheet contains the names of the "officers" who were involved with my client's arrest." He handed the paper to the police chief. "Do you recognize any of the names on this sheet?"

The chief studied it for a short moment before shaking his head. "No, no I can't say that I do."

"I see. Well, those officers in question just happen to be sitting behind the prosecution's seat. Do you recognize any of their faces?"

The chief squinted his eyes; he studied carefully the faces of the "cops" sitting directly behind the prosecution. As it turned out, he _did_ recognize one of them. "Y-Yes, I do." He pointed to one of them; specifically, it was the one that confronted the Butterflies the day that River was released from jail & given his court summons. "I was notified of your client's arrest and paid a visit to the station that day. I caught a glimpse of _that_ gentleman-" He pointed into the gallery at said "cop." "-speaking to his family over the matter."

"Did he ever speak to _you_ in any way about this case? In fact, did _any_ of the officers involved speak to you about this case?"

"No."

"Is that normal?"

"It depends on the case. Our department labeled this a high-profile case due to the nature of your client's status and - for lack of a better term - celebrity. As such, I ordered a full briefing on the case, with the officers directly involved specifically invited to brief me."

"Did they show up?"

"No. None of them did."

"I see. What did you do after they failed to show for their scheduled briefing?"

"I attempted to retrieve them for a meeting in my office, but I could not find them anywhere in the department. Or any department, for that matter. Once I received a summons from your office, I knew something was wrong."

"Chief, would there be any excusable reason why officers in their position wouldn't attend a briefing? Never mind one that _you_ directly called for?"

The witness shrugged. "I suppose there is. Typically a single officer can have multiple open cases they're working on at once, so they're always waiting for developments & one could potentially pull them out of another case. But I don't believe that was the case here. As I said, none of their names were anywhere to be found in the database and I had not seen _any_ of their faces anywhere before this entire mess began."

River's attorney felt like that was an appropriate place for questioning to cease. "Thank you. No more questions."

It was the prosecutor's turn to cross-examine. The defense's questioning was very tight, however. Little wiggle room to be discredited. But he still had to make an effort. "Sir...to your knowledge, who is in charge of keeping track of rosters for each department in the police force?"

"Why...that would be me." The chief said firmly.

"How would you describe your ability to properly keep track of all the names coming & going in your police force?"

"I would say I'm quite skilled."

"So you've never made a mistake? Never an error in your ability to record-keep?"

"No, no, I won't go that far. At times we've had such an influx of new recruits that it would take me longer to put their names into the archives."

"So based on your testimony...is it possible that..." He pointed out the "cops" again. "Those gentlemen over there simply slipped through the cracks?"

The chief sat silently for a moment before answering again. "Is it possible? Certainly. But I don't consider it likely."

"And why is that?"

"Because I've seen what happens when new recruits "slip through the cracks." We had one instance - about 20 or so years ago - where the police force more than doubled its total number of recruits. It happened literally in the span of only a few days. Back then, our computers weren't powerful enough to handle spreadsheets big enough to hold all the names, so we had to use pen & paper. The force had a huge case it was working on - I believe it was the Echo Creek Academy shooting - it was such a disaster that we had literally hundreds of officers from different units working on it at the same time. Unfortunately, some of them were tragically killed in the line of fire. But in the process of trying to alert their families, it was discovered that over half of their names were never formally added to our poorly-designed database. We had no information on any of them - no home address, phone numbers, not even what unit they were assigned to - and it turned out to be a massive black eye on all of us. From that day forward I pledged to take charge of the rosters; once the computers were powerful enough, I handled all of the roster moves & information banks myself."

A very detailed & thorough explanation, one that the prosecutor couldn't feasibly break. One that he didn't seem interested in. So...he ceased. "Nothing further."

Which drew the extreme ire of the "cops" sitting right behind him. One of them stood up and grabbed the prosecutor's suit. "What's the big idea, punk!? You're not getting paid to wimp out!" He shouted just loud enough for the entire courtroom to hear. The judge banged his gavel.

"You're out of order! Sit down & zip it!" He howled. Reluctantly, he obeyed. The fact that their case was slowly being picked apart like it was a fragile doll wasn't helping, but it was obvious the tension in the courtroom was getting to them, something that even Star, Marco, and the others picked up on.

"They're starting to lose it." Marco whispered very softly to Star.

"Well, it's not like they had a sturdy foundation to begin with." Star whispered back, raising an eyebrow with the boy over her misfired analogy. Unfortunately that had to be quelled when Star winced in pain.

"Are you okay?"

"I need to excuse myself." She stood up and carefully made her way out of the courtroom, rushing to find a bathroom. The stress was overwhelming her in a way that she hadn't felt since the brief return of magic that saw the Magic High Commission show their true colors (i.e. **When Dimensions Cleave**). She quickly found an open stall and heaved into the toilet bowl, preparing herself to throw up. With each and every heave, the thoughts scattering through her mind only intensified. Why was this happening? If they wanted they easily could've had River on the already-established illegal hunting charge. But they just _had_ to push their luck & go harder, setting up an unnecessary conspiracy knowing that the mere ordeal of the trial would wound Star, both physically & psychologically.

Why were these Mewmans so hellbent on sticking it to Star? Were they truly so resentful of everything that had happened that they felt swift retribution against her - by any means necessary - would satiate their rage? It wasn't every Mewman, either. Many within the new Earthni community were, if not outright enthralled, at least content with their situation. No fuel within them to seek revenge against Star for everything, for Eclipsa, for destroying the magic, nothing. But then there was this group of clowns, as well as a select few scattered throughout Echo Creek. These people - some a part of the new Solarian army, some not - seething with resentment towards Star. They never forgave her for surrendering the throne back to Eclipsa.

They never forgave her for putting in power someone who was both completely inept at the job _and_ showing even the slightest bit of bias towards monsters, towards the creatures that they were conditioned to permanently despise no matter what the circumstances. These were her people. _Her_ people. She may have only been "queen" officially for a few days, but her life was dedicated to these people. She would serve their best interests to the best of her abilities no matter what, even if their interests conflicted with what was truly best for the kingdom. But now, some of them were turning on her, and in some of the harshest ways she could've imagined.

But before she could sink any further into her black hole - and following at least two upchucks - she gathered herself & slowly opened her stall door, taking a good look around the room before taking her leave & returning to the courtroom.

* * *

It was now finally time for what was considered the main event of the trial: River was testifying. The defense felt good about how this would turn out; they'd already well established that the "investigation" of the initial crime was shady as all get out. In theory, River didn't even need to take the stand. Heck, his counsel urged him not to. He feared that by still copping to the original stabbing he would risk a guilty verdict anyway in spite of their efforts to dismantle the prosecution's fragile case. But if there was one thing about River that stood true, it was that he was a man of honor. He committed an act considered heinous in the eyes of Echo Creek laws, and he was going to own it. He had always had every intention of owning up to it & taking his lumps, but the conspiracy complicated plans.

"Mr. Butterfly, before The Cleaving, how often did you hunt for sport?" His attorney asked him on direct.

"Oh, quite often. I would say at least...once every week?"

"And do you hunt to kill?"

"No, absolutely not. I only hunt for the sport! For the thrill of the chase, not for blood."

"As this trial has demonstrated, your weapon of choice for hunting is a sword or blade. Is that true?"

"Yes, my combat skills with the blade are exemplary!"

"Before this incident, had you ever taken the life of an animal while hunting?"

"Heavens no!"

"How did you avoid that?"

"Oh that's easy. My wonderful wife Moonpie, erm, "charmed" all of my blades so that all of the sword thrusts I deliver only wound & incapacitate my...erm...victims. There's never any blood loss."

"I see." The attorney took a quick peek over at the jury, who seemed to believe River's spiel. "Mr. Butterfly, do you know what a hunting rifle is?"

"Only from the tales that my daughter's wonderful boyfriend has relayed to our family!"

_Wonderful boyfriend._ Well if that didn't put the biggest smile on Marco's face in the gallery.

"Have you ever _used_ a hunting rifle in your life?"

"No, and quite frankly I have no desire to do so! I hunt for fun, never to kill, and there's too much risk with an untrained weapon-wielder."

This time the attorney looked over at the prosecution's table, as well as the "cops" directly behind him. The "cops" were becoming quite irritable, with the prosecutor trying to hide his frustration. "Mr. Butterfly...at no point during these proceedings have you denied your culpability in the crime you've been charged with today. You have only disputed the weapon of choice."

"That's correct, good sir!"

"Why is that? Why did you decide to take this approach for the trial?"

River stayed momentarily silent. Of all the times in his life, this was one where his word choice was most important. "Because I believe in honor, sir. I may be a former king, but I'm no better than any one else sitting before us in this room today. Not you, not your esteemed honor, not anyone else. I'm just a simple man attempting to make a honest name for himself. I committed a heinous act. I violated the laws of this new land. I _must_ be held accountable for that infraction. What I will _not_ allow, however, is for the facts to be twisted to fit an untrue narrative. I have not now nor have I ever wielding a...oh what is it again...a-a hunting rifle! I have never wielded a hunting rifle in my entire life nor do I have any _intention_ of wielding one."

Without another thought, the defense attorney nodded his head and returned to his table. He had ceased his questioning for River. Now it was on the prosecution. It was his job to try and impeach River's testimony. Unfortunately for him, between the way their already-shoddy case had been picked apart so easily by the defense _and_ the rock-solid testimony offered by each defense witness, it was becoming clear that the case was a lost cause. He was handed a case held together by duct-tape and a prayer by clowns that weren't even official police officers, Mewmans that also went the extra mile to try and make the crime look worse than it actually was, destroying any credibility that they may have had going in. Heck, River outright admitted on the stand to stabbing the bear with his sword and expressed a desire to be properly held accountable for it, and yet they _still_ probably wouldn't get anywhere.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, the prosecutor stood up from his table and cleared his throat. "Your honor...we have no questions for this witness." To say this didn't sit well with the "cops" sitting directly behind the prosecution table would be the understatement of the year. Instead, let the fact that they all immediately rose from their seats and tackled the prosecutor do the talking. They would've likely done some more damage too had the courtroom not descended into chaos; Star, Marco, and the rest of the teens in their group dashed from their seats to the prosecutor's table to try and pry them off, as did a few actual police officers that were standing by in the courtroom.

"_**ORDER**__!" _The judge roared, banging his gavel. _"You're all out of order!"_ He bellowed to the "cops" who started the mess.

The adults could only watch in total befuddlement and shock. Moon struggled to find the right words to convey her emotional state. "Are Earth "trials" always this outlandish & hectic?"

"No, they're usually the exception." Angie responded in a whisper. "But I suppose it was silly to think this would be anything but a normal trial. Everyone's still trying to find some normalcy after..._that_ happened."

"Especially given what we know now about how this case played out." Cassandra Cher interjected. "I suppose you know what they say: _The Fools Grovel At Dusk." _Without a thought, baby Meteora & Mariposa - both in Eclipsa's and Rafaels' arms respectively - looked up from their half slumber & exchanged looks at each other, then looked up at Cassandra. That was the cue. "Why don't I take the children outside for the time being? Who knows what could happen in here?"

To the adults, it was...an unusual request. But Cassandra had become someone they could all trust, both as a therapist _and_ as an acquaintance. They had no reason to believe there would be any issue. So they quietly handed the children to her, and she proceeded to lead them out of the courtroom and into the ladies' room...in the meantime...

Back in the courtroom, things were finally settling down, but the seething fury still persisted.

"What is wrong with you, man!?" One of the phony "cops" yelled at the prosecutor. "You're just giving up like it's nothing!?"

"It's not my fault _you_ people handed me a lousy case! You're not even real cops!"

"Oh you actually _buy_ all that "well they're not even real cops so whatever they did is tainted," do you?"

The prosecutor looked like he was going to have a blood vessel burst out of his head. "H-Have you not been paying attention!? We saw you punks! _Everyone_ saw you and the stunt you pulled!"

"What? He still _did_ it!" It was almost like they were living on another planet. If that was the case, then the prosecutor grabbing one of them by the collar & shaking them seemed to wake them up.

"We would've had him on a silver platter if not for that stunt, you moron! He _copped_ to the stabbing on the stand! If you bozos hadn't pulled your stunt & tried to make it look like a shooting, we might already have a conviction! What were you thinking!?"

"We were thinking crime doesn't pay, that's what!" One of the other "cops" shouted to him, seething with rage.

"You're not even real cops yet! The mewman race can't apply to even be police officers until the grace period is up!"

"You're really gonna let those punks get away with this because of a technicality!? If that happens, that's on _you_, you coward!"

They were gonna try all they wanted, but their petty insults & attitude were not going to deter the prosecutor from doing the next thing he did. He turned to the judge, "Judge I move for immediate dismissal." Which illicited a call of outrage from the "cops."

"Granted." The judge banged his gavel. "And as for _you_ six-" He addressed the six mewmans whose actions directly caused this case to devolve into chaos. "I suggest you all lawyer up. Today."

"_Us_!? Lawyer up!?" Their faces were turning red with anger. But the deed was done. The case was dismissed. River was free. Unfortunately, any hope of that being the end of it went up in smoke as Star approached them, struggling to hold back her own anger.

"Why?" She asked them. "Why would you guys do this? Do you...do you really hate me _that_ much?"

"Yeah, what _is_ your problem!?" A voice from the gallery barked; it turned out to be another mewman, but this one was on Star's side.

"What's _our_ problem?"

"This trial's been a complete sham from the start!" Another voice - another mewman on Star's side - roared from the gallery. "This was such a waste of time! Why did you try to frame King Butterfly!?"

"H-He's not actually..." Even if intentions were good, some of the mewmans on Star's side and their continued recognition of the Butterfly family as "royalty" and the "monarchy" annoyed her. "But yeah, she's right!" She turned back to the phony "cops." "My dad admitted to breaking the law! He admitted hunting with his sword wasn't right! Why'd you have to pull that switcharoo on us! W-What even happened to that other bear!? Who killed him?"

"Who cares!?" One of the phony "cops" shouted from the back.

"Um...we do?"

"Why?! It's just an Earth bear!"

They were determined as all get out to get under Star's skin. And it was working. Luckily for her she had her support network there to back her up if she faltered. One of them, Janna, stepped forward & took the lead. "So you're saying we shouldn't care that an Earth creature was possibly murdered strictly for the purpose of a cover-up? Are you saying we shouldn't care that you distinctively took a second life needlessly just to stick it to someone who accidentally - _accidentally_ \- took a first life?! What is it!? Go ahead, explain it to me like I'm five."

That same mewman stepped forward and started chuckling in a rather condescending manner. He put his hand on Janna's shoulder. "Sweetheart...it's called "necessary evil" See...the bear was our way of making the widdle girly-girl cry like a widdle baby! Who wants to see their pwecious daddy get locked up with all the big bad people that make us all mad and stuff! That'll teach her the widdle girl to ruin our lives!" Imagine the most condescending, mocking tone & voice that could come from this mewman's mouth, and it would still not be in the same zip code of what actually came out.

"I said explain it to me like I'm _five_, not like I'm _slow_."

"Pfft, same thing."

Star couldn't help but shake her head. Not even a comforting shoulder pat from her beloved could calm her. "You know what? People are you are just the saddest thing in existence. You went through all of this trouble - the trouble of _framing_ my dad for a crime he didn't commit when the crime he _did_ commit would've gotten you the same result just fine - just to stick it to _me_. All because of everything that happened. You know, your group isn't as big as you think it is."

"...our group?"

"The group that opposes everything I tried to do: turning the throne over to Eclipsa, trying to put your people _and_ monsters on equal footing, trying to bring together the humans, mewmans, _and_ monsters into a new cleaved world that we didn't even plan on making. Just look around and you'd be surprised at how small your team actually is. Sure, not everyone is one hundred percent on board with everything, but a lot of mewmans have been surprisingly accepting of the circumstances and the situation we're in, just like they were when Eclipsa took the throne." Star's speech was moving to many of the mewmans and the humans in the gallery, despite the fact that the humans had almost no idea what the heck she was talking about. For the ones who posed as phony "cops," though, no such luck. "But you know what the worst part of this is?"

"What?"

"...you decided to hurt me by going after people I love. You hijacked this entire debacle just to hurt someone else. If you want to come after me, then come after _me_. Leave my friends & loved ones alone."

"Well maybe someone _should_ come after you! Maybe it's time someone knocked you off your pedestal, little girl!"

"What are you-pedestal? I'm not on any pedestal! Why would you think I want to be?"

"You tell me: why are we hearing about some kind of statue of you for that new playground or some crap!?"

Statue? What was this now? This was literally the first that Star was hearing of this. Could it be something that the mewman was just making up to stick it to her again? Possible, but Marco's sudden predisposition to step forward in an angry fashion didn't suggest as such. "She has _nothing_ to do with that!" A statement that both confirmed the existence of said intention _and_ absolved Star of any involvement.

Although the mewman wasn't buying it. "Oh really? And why should I believe _you_?"

Which only made Marco angrier, as he stepped forward again and growled at him, genuinely shaking him & the other five. "_Because I said so_." Star didn't need any more information than that to read between the lines.

"Well then...maybe someone should come after _you_ instead, punk!"

One of the security guards of the courtroom stepped forward and approached the mewman. "Are you copping to harassment, sir?"

The mewman looked at him like he had five heads. "Who are _you_?"

"I'm an _actual_ cop. I think you six better come with us."

"Hell with that!" Any efforts to handle this peacefully went right out the window when the six of them engaged in a tussle with the security guard. Eventually one of them managed to grab the guard's gun & in the blink of an eye he aimed it at Star. His hands were clearly trembling. In spite of his anger, he was not going to do it like this. But that didn't stop everyone from panicking. Star closed her eyes & put her hands out in the heat of the moment. Like her father, she too had never death with Earth weapons to this extent. She was bracing for the worst.

But before any trigger could be pulled, something completely out of the blue happened...

_**POP!**_

The gun popped. Like a balloon. And it exploded into confetti. Right in front of everyone. That was it. Everyone - except the Butterfly group and the teens - all started to race out of the courtroom in a panicked frenzy. Who could blame them? That wasn't something that was supposed to happen intentionally. But the question remained: how did it happen? The answer? A little bit of magic. Literally.

In the corner of the backroom, there was an invisible magical sphere that was holding three people - Cassandra, Mariposa, & Meteora, the latter two were in their Neverzone teenaged forms. When Cassandra drafted them from their families just moments earlier, she transported them to the Neverzone, where they retrieved the new magic wand; she then cloaked them in a magical sphere that served multiple purposes: to keep Mariposa & Meteora in their teenage forms so that the former could use the wand, _and_ to keep themselves invisible to the public so that they could do their work. Cassandra suspected that there might be some foul play attempted by the mewmans as the trial unraveled, and she wanted there to be a backup plan to keep Star & her group out of harm's way should it come to that.

As a result, Mariposa used the magic wand to cause the gun to pop like a balloon. Mind you, it was completely accidental as well; Mariposa was incredibly new at all this. But it was enough to stave off the threat, which is all that mattered to them. "That was close." Mariposa whispered, her body shaking as she tightened her grip on her wand.

"Do you think anyone suspects anything?" Meteora asked Cassandra.

"You don't worry about that. If they do, I'll handle it." Cassandra assured them. With a snap of her fingers, they disappeared from their spot, only to reappear seconds later in their normal forms; Cassandra walked carefully into the courtroom with the two kids - back to babies - sleeping in her arms.

"Oh, there you are!" Angie exclaimed, taking her baby daughter from Cassandra as Eclipsa did the same for Meteora. "They are so precious."

"At least they were here for the...um..._fireworks_." Marco remarked, nervously scratching his ear.

"You can tell me all about it later. But I think it's time for us to go home."

Everyone agreed, and they all set off to leave the courtroom...almost doing so without River. "Dad! You coming!?" Star exclaimed to River, who was still awkwardly sitting in the witness stand for some reason.

"O-Oh, yes! Quite right!" Well that solved that problem. Up he went and joined the group.

* * *

Despite the fact that River copped to the original stabbing on the witness stand, the case was so botched beyond repair that they had no choice but to let him go. So he was able to return home with the others with no problems. Everyone else - Cassandra included - spent the rest of the evening at the Butterfly castle, just hanging out & enjoying themselves, trying to unwind after a highly stressful few days.

The teens were up in Star's room, trying to finish the game of Dungeons & Dragons that they had started a few days prior before the entire ordeal began. It was going well for the most part, though Marco found himself frazzled & unable to concentrate.

_"some kind of statue of you for that new playground!"_

_"Maybe it's time someone knocked you off your pedestal, little girl!"_

"Marco?"

The mere sound of Star's infectious, concerned tone snapped him out of his trance. "W-What happened?"

"You looked like you were spaced out. You okay?"

"O-Oh, I...yeah, I guess. Uh, actually would you excuse me for a second?" He uncomfortably stood up and took his leave, heading towards the nearest bathroom. Once again Star could read between the lines and suspected she knew exactly what was eating at the boy.

"Janna, would you take over as DM? I'll be right back." She stood up and quickly followed him, while Janna took her spot as Dungeon Master.

"Alright, punks! Janna's in the house." She announced rather proudly. "By the time I'm done, you're all gonna wish you still had Star here."

"Joke's on you, I already do." Tom answered back smugly & sarcastically, eliciting a loud laugh from Jackie and an annoyed glare from Janna.

As for Star, she managed to catch up to Marco just as he was about to enter the bathroom. "Marco, wait." She called out to him just as he stepped in the door. She had no choice but to join him inside & lock the door behind him. "What's the matter?"

He shook his head, trying to stave off her concerns & failing. "N-Nothing."

"Marco, you're not a very good liar."

She was right about that. And he couldn't dispute that. "Ugh, it's just...w-why do those stupid mewmans care whether or not someone wants to build a statue of someone that gave so much just to right some wrongs!"

"I think a better question is...why do _you_ care that they care? It's not like you're the one that's doing that..." She looked up to see Marco's shaking disposition. It looked like he was struggling to hold it together. "...unless you _are_."

Marco's tendency to go overboard to spoil Star since the Cleaving was once again being put on blast. He swore to himself he would try to curtail it after one of Star's meltdowns (i.e. **Episode 12: Intrusive Intervention**) but it wasn't quite as easy as he thought it would be. And then her most recent meltdown (i.e. **Episode 17: Sleepwalking SuperStar**) made him change his tune entirely. Thus where they were today. He pulled out his phone and brought up a picture of what appeared to be blueprints for a large statue in Star's likeness. It showed Star standing with her hands clasped together in a respectful manner and a huge smile on her face. It was simple, but a closer look at the blueprints showed that Marco had every intention of making it a _big_ statue, even though he knew how uncomfortable she was with gestures like this. It was a compulsion for him.

"How long have you been working on this?"

He sighed, not prepared to address this. "Since your sleepwalking incident. I don't know, after you had that meltdown...something inside of me just kinda snapped, a-and then I got to work on those blueprints. I wanted to see if I could get it done before that big playground build, but..." Sometimes Star would forget that Marco too was hurting. He hid it so well, way better than she ever could. But it was self-inflicted; she never asked him to do any of this for her. All she wanted to do was hug him & make the hurt go away, just like all he wanted to do was spoil her like a child & make her hurt go away. "It's no big de-"

"Marco..." She looked into his big, beautiful brown eyes. "You have the biggest heart."

He did. He was the residential softie. "Just feels like you can't catch a break. You're struggling with your own issues and yet left & right you've got this bullshit you have to deal with on top of everything else. And now you have some of your own people turning against you, a-and I just...I feel like I'm still trying to find a way to do right by you."

She gently kissed his soft lips, tears forming in both of their eyes. "Sweetheart...you're my hero. But just like _I _can't fix systematic discrimination & bigotry with grand gestures or big sweeping changes, _you_ can't fix _me_ by building me statues or spoiling me with gifts or food or so on. It has to be small, incremental steps that put us on the right path. A-And you can't take on my problems as your own."

"Wish someone could just stamp that into my brain so I'd remember that."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. To be honest, I wish everyone had your heart. I wish everyone had a desire to just be good to everyone, treat each other with respect, treat everyone like they're all equals. Things would be a lot easier for all of us, wouldn't it?"

"...It would at least help." They both nodded before sharing a tight hug with each other. They always had each other's backs, no matter what the circumstances. "But...what happens now? I mean, what if they...what if they do-"

"Come after me?" Star finished his thought for him. She grimaced in pain, her heart once again giving her trouble, but she took a deep breath & fortified her resolve. "If they do...I'll defend myself. I'll defend you and all of our family & friends. They're not going to hurt us. I won't let them."

"I know you can handle yourself. I'm...not worried about that. It's just everything else I'm worried about."

"I get it. But it's going to be okay. We're all here, we're all in this together...and that's never going to change." With a solemn breath, the two embraced yet again & kissed. It always melted their stress regardless of the situation. "Let's get back to the game. We don't wanna get back to Janna killing everyone, do we?"

"No, no we don't." They parted; Star took off for the door only for Marco to stop her. "Wait, one more thing." He walked over towards her. "...how did you do that?"

She cocked her head. "Huh?"

"You know...made that gun pop like a balloon! You gotta tell me your secret!" He laughed, hoping to make the situation less awkward. But her stunned silence only made it more awkward as his laughter slowly died down. "S-Star, you're creeping me out here..."

"...I didn't do that, I swear." Was the only answer she could muster from her shock. The look on her face gave it all away to him; she wasn't kidding.

Meanwhile, right outside the bathroom, Cassandra Cher stood, holding baby Meteora & Mariposa in her arms. The three of them all exchanged looks of concern with each other. The walls of lies were starting to move in towards them. They couldn't hide this forever...

* * *

**End of Episode 22!**

**Well, one minute I was struggling to get this done, then the next I banged out half of the chapter in just a few hours. Funny how that works sometimes.  
**

**Hope you enjoyed this one. As I mentioned last time, this one originally started out with a completely different idea than what I ended up going with. And I never had the intention of writing this with a "all cops are garbage" message, which is why I went the route of River actually having committed a heinous act, and bitter mewmans simply hijacking it to inflict more pain because of their own hubris & anger towards Star. It's not supposed to be a commentary on real world events. At least not a heavy or intentional one.**

**That said, things are starting to really heat up for Star & her friends. Who knows what could happen now? And there's _still_ that big playground build that has to happen. Stay tuned. It's going to get really fun here.**

**And as always, feedback & comments are greatly appreciated! :)**


	23. Reverse Rebuild

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 23: Reverse Rebuild**

**Episode Summary: The first day of the long-awaited "Mewman-Human-Monster Integrated Playground Build" has finally arrived!**

**Original Release Date: July 18, 2020**

* * *

It was almost finally here: in just one more day, the long-anticipated "Mewman-Human-Monster Integrated Playground Build" would begin. For Star & the Butterflies, there was a lot riding on this. It was one of the most significant mandates imposed by the Earthni shadow council: Mewmans, Monsters, _and_ Humans working together to build something that all three could enjoy together. If it went well, the future of Earthni looked incredibly promising. If it didn't, it was up in the air.

And so, one day before the build was set to commence, Marco Diaz found himself sitting in the office of Cassandra Cher. Following the revelation that Marco was intending to have a statue of Star built in her honor, Star suggested to"She him that he sit down with Cassandra to hash out his lingering issues between them.

"This design is lovely..." Cassandra remarked, looking over the blueprints on Marco's phone of the statue he had been contemplating having commissioned.

"Nothing but the best for my...princess..." Marco replied rather nervously, barely able to look Cassandra in the eye.

"How did she react when she found out about this?"

"She, uh...wasn't totally thrilled." He shuffled his feet & twiddled his thumbs.

"Did that surprise you?"

After a moment of silence, he shook his head. "No, not at all." Outside the room Star was waiting in the lobby, overhearing their talk while holding a bouquet of flowers in hand, a bouquet she was going to give to him as soon as he was done as a sign of affection. She was silently pulling for him to air out his grievances so he could get past this & feel better. "She always loves how I _don't_ see her as the princess and how I only saw the "real" Star Butterfly when we spent time together. But that's not true...I always saw the princess in her. I just hid it well because I didn't want to disappoint her."

It was always a big sticking point with Star; when she was on Earth for the first time, she only wanted to be seen as Star Butterfly: magic wielder. Not Star Butterfly: magical princess. Because Marco did it so easily, she was able to easily gravitate to him. But as time passed - especially once Star had to return to Mewni full time - that started to change. Not helping was that he was beginning to fall for her romantically. It only complicated matters. But he continued to put on a front of only seeing her as a regular person and not a magical princess worthy of special treatment. But by the time Star's fists smashed through her mirror & nearly killed her, that front was gone. It was a constant, never-ending struggle internally to stop that interpretation; Star was still the same Star that she was before, even if she was more fragile now. But he couldn't help it. Now he was dedicated to putting her on an imaginary pedestal & giving her the accolades that a princess & queen deserved. If he could only stop himself from feeling this way, things would be astronomically better.

"I always felt like she got jibbed out of what she rightfully earned."

"You mean her reprieve from the political game?"

He shook his head and looked at Cassandra straight on. "...No..._the throne_." His answer came as a surprise to Cassandra, but not to Star. "Yeah I know she's always said she didn't think she had what it takes to be queen, she didn't _want_ to be queen...but dammit she still deserved it! She worked her butt off to prove herself, and for what?!"

"You...want her to receive the adulation...without putting in any of the work."

"Well, she already put in _so much_ work and got literally _nothing_ for her efforts. Don't you think she deserves more?"

"I think the better question is...why are _you_ so focused on how much she "deserves?" Why do you believe she should be the only one to relish in her success?"

Her question confused the boy. "I don't-"

"She credits you a _lot_ for where she is today, for everything that she accomplished."

It was true; Star credited Marco for a lot of the successes she had in mending the bridges between monsters and mewmans. While he wasn't politically instrumental like Star was, that he was constantly there to offer a strong shoulder to lean on was more than enough for Star. Not so much for Marco, though. "I guess I just...keep feeling like she belongs up on that pedestal. You know, for all of us...for me...to cherish her..." It was such a frustrating wall; both for Marco to break down, and for Star to be helpless watching him try to break it down. "I just...I just don't compare to her at all."

"Who's asking you to?"

Leave it to Marco to not ask himself the obvious questions. "...nobody." He relented. The battle to end the demons seemed like an endless road, but step by step, they were moving in the right direction. Marco stood up & shook Cassandra's hands as the session was winding down.

"Every time your subconscious tells you you're inadequate for her in any way - just because you're not royalty - it's wrong. Your worth isn't determined by your social status, but by how you treat the people around you. Nobody recognizes that better than she does."

He nodded, accepting her train of logic. "Will we see you at the build tomorrow?"

"Of course. I've been anticipating this all summer. I only hope everyone behaves themselves. I imagine tensions with Star's former subjects are quite high after that tragic excuse for a trial..."

"I think _we're_ worried about it more than Star is."

"When she has her head on straight, she's the most logical & level-headed out of all of us." She nodded as Marco turned the knob to the door & prepared to leave. "Take care, son."

He nodded back. "Thanks." And opened the door; he saw Star standing there with a warm smile on her face and the flowers in hand. The two embraced as the door closed behind them, leaving Cassandra in the room alone with her thoughts...not all of them good ones.

* * *

The following day came. Everyone was up _very_ early...right at the crack of dawn. It was way too early for any of them to truly be effective for the grueling endeavor the day promised to provide, but such is life. Practically everyone that was important to the Butterflies and the Diazes - and several who were not - showed up to take part in the build. Many of them were there for different reasons. Some wanted sincerely to be a put of this new era of change. Others wanted to just get paid what they were promised for offering their assistance. Some wanted to show their support for Star. Others just wanted an excuse to get out of other prior commitments. Whatever their reasons were, today, several hundred people - from all walks of life, Earth or Mewni - were gathered in the park for what was expected to be a long, exhausting day of hard labor.

"Thank you all for coming out!" The mayor shouted into a megaphone to the crowd of volunteers. Behind him stood Moon, River, Eclipsa, Globgor, Star, and Marco, the latter two holding hands. "We're all very excited to have you here with us today! This is a terrific day in Echo Creek's history!" He handed the megaphone to Moon.

"All of the supplies and the blueprints for today's events are over here with us. Don't be shy in using them! There's plenty to go around! If there are any questions, please don't hesitate to ask any of us here today. We'll be happy to assist to the best of our abilities." Moon handed the megaphone off to Eclipsa.

"We'll have loads of refreshments & beverages for you throughout the day. Remember to stay hydrated, it's supposed to be extra hot today!" Eclipsa noted, wiping her brow of forming sweat. "Now, before we begin, are there any questions?"

One of the volunteers - a mewman that was on Star's side - raised her hand. "I thought we were doing everything from the ground up today. Why does it look like someone started without us?"

Eclipsa handed the megaphone off to Marco. "Because someone did." He directed everyone's attention to Star, who couldn't help but stand there, looking away from everyone & rubbing her arm in discomfort. Her sleepwalking escapades continued to embarrass her.

"Well who told her to do that?!" Another mewman spoke up; this one was also on Star's side but spoke a tad more bluntly than the first one.

"She was _sleepwalking_! She couldn't help it. _And _she nearly keeled over doing it, heart attack and stuff." While Marco was exaggerating while talking about the damage Star did to her body with her three straight days of sleep-helping, he was only just _barely_. "So I think you guys could show my girlfriend a _little_ bit more respect here."

Momentary silence passed before it was broken by the sound of faint clapping; specifically clapping by toddler hands. They all looked in the direction of the noise and saw that it was indeed toddlers - the toddlers from the orphanage - who were applauding, with baby Miles leading the charge and Reggie & Greta standing behind them in support. Star's tired eyes instantly lit up.

"_Baaaaabies..._" She droned in excitement, slowly making her way towards the children. Marco followed her while returning the megaphone to Eclipsa. "Hi my little angels!" She opened her arms & awaited for the children to swarm her with love. "What're you all doing here?"

"They wanted to help." Greta said to her, admiring the children's affection for the girl.

"Help?"

"With the build."

Star looked down at the children, who all began cheering again when Great mentioned the build. "Aww, you guys...but..." She corralled them & got their attention. "There's a lot of dangerous equipment here. I can't let you help with this...you might get seriously hurt if you do..." She was right, of course but that didn't stop the guilt from creeping in once she saw them lower their heads & sulk. "Oh but wait! There _is_ something you can do to help." They perked up as she directed their attention to her family, where surrounding them were dozens of crates filled with ice cold water bottles. "See those water bottles?" They all nodded; Star led them over to one and took out a bunch of bottles handing one to each toddler. "Your job is going to be to hand these out to people when they're thirsty. It's going to be a long day and this heat's going to take its toll on everyone. They'll need your help. Can you do that?"

The children stayed temporarily quiet, trying to process the information that was provided to them. Miles stepped forward and took a water bottle from Star's hands, giggling as he did so. After a brief examination of the bottle, he turned to the other toddlers and started nodding his head rapidly, which was apparently a cue for them to accept the offers, as they all began cheering and jumping immediately, lifting Star's spirits. "I'm taking _that_ as a yes."

"How _do_ you do it, Miss Butterfly?" Marco flirted, wrapping an arm around her.

"I guess I just have a way with kids."

She sure did, and she continued to prove it day in and day out. "Thinking about motherhood again?"

"Don't get worked up. I'm not _ready_ to be a mom...yet."

"But you want to, don't you?"

She shrugged her shoulders, peering over to her family and the mayor going over instructions with the volunteers. "Really, more than anything...I think I just want to be someone people look to. You know...for motivation, inspiration, strength..."

"Some people do." Marco said rather solemnly to himself, looking away. He didn't realize that his girlfriend had heard that remark. "I mean..."

"You mean yourself?"

He knew he couldn't get anything past her. "Maybe a little too much..."

She gently patted his shoulders...and then his tush. "More like _way_ too much, sweetie." She sweetly kissed his cheek. "I'd rather be in a ditch with you than on a pedestal by myself." He nodded in agreement as the two shared a kiss. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we split up-" The poor word choice dawned on her immediately as she saw her boyfriend grimace. "Not _that_, ya stupid." She playfully smacked the upside of his head. "I meant why don't we split up and help out different people for a while? Look!" She pointed over to a spot out in the distance, one that featured Marco's friends Ferguson & Alfonzo going with a group of volunteers. "There's Alfonzo & Ferguson. Why don't you go talk to them?"

"...I-I don't know. I haven't talked to them since that whole you-as-Dungeon-Master incident. They were pretty mad about _you_ being a good DM."

"I don't think that was it." She explained. "I think that was just an excuse for what they were _really_ upset about."

"...You mean _me_ being your squire. Me having to "clean up your messes?" While you were...dating Tom."

"I guess they thought that when you left for Mewni on that exchange program thing you were just gonna get together with me, and when we came back to Earth & we weren't together, they felt...ripped off, in a way."

Marco had a large frown cross his face. While Alfonzo & Ferguson weren't what one would consider..._great_ friends, he had known them for a long time before Star came into the picture. Slowly, his adventures with Star began to overtake his friendship with the two of them, leaving to him spending less and less time with them until ultimately he shuttered off to Mewni to try and be with Star. "I haven't exactly been the best friend to them lately, have I?"

The girl hugged the somber boy. "It's not too late to fix it, though. You guys taught me that."

"I guess that's true." He couldn't argue with her brand of logic. They shared another kiss. "So what about you?"

"Hmm..." Star surveyed the area again and took note of Jackie, Chloe, Janna, and Tom all running off together to another part of the park. "I guess I could go hang with the others for a while."

"You sure you're up for that?"

"Marco, I'll be _fine_. I think I'm getting better at keeping myself under control around Jackie. I'm sure the work will distract me from thinking about her _or_ Janna-"

"That's...not what I meant." He interrupted her before giving her a side-eye look. Her sexual attraction to Jackie took the forefront of her attention, so much so that Marco was almost completely unaware of her emotional crush on Janna. "Um..."

"Don't ask." She answered with a strong blush.

"Riiiiight...no I meant, you know...are you sure you won't push yourself too hard? We know how you get..."

"Oh, right..." Her propensity to commit to a task until it was finished, sleep or rest be damned - no matter how menial or daunting the task - was a recipe for complete disaster for her. "I...I think I'll be fine. I know they'll hold me in check if something goes wrong."

"You know I trust you, hon. I just worry..."

"I promise one day I'm gonna stop doing stupid things that make you worry like that. For now, all I can do is just...keep moving forward."

"Darn tootin'."

He couldn't go one minute without doing or saying something innocent that brightened her spirits. "Darn tootin'?" She teased with a snicker. "What are you? A cowboy?"

He playfully rolled his eyes. "...maybe..." They shared one more kiss before parting & heading off in their own directions.

* * *

Marco, for his part, decided to go with Alfonzo & Ferguson, meeting up with them at their designated spot, where they were going to help build a large ball pit. The two took notice of the red-hoodied boy racing towards them. "Hey look it's Marco!" Alfonzo yelled awkwardly as Marco approached them waving hello.

"Yo, buddy...s'up, dude?" Ferguson awkwardly followed up. There was still an uncomfortable vibe surrounding them ever since the "Star Butterfly is a good dungeon master" debacle.

"Mind if I join ya over here?"

The two nerds exchanged silent glances before agreeing. "Sure." And so it had begun. The three - along with their group of other volunteers - got to work building the set. It started out peacefully enough; everyone got along with each other well, there was a solid comradery that formed within the group, and the actual construction of the ball pit seemed to fly right by. Smooth sailing! Or at least it was at the beginning. But as time continued to tick by and fatigue started to set it with the whole group, Marco decided the smart play would be to strike up a conversation with his two friends, hoping it would help to melt the ice.

"So...how's it been?" Marco asked in about as unwieldy a manner as one could. "Haven't seen you guys in...in a few weeks."

"Yeah, long time no see, dude..." Ferguson responded in a fiddly manner. "Not since, erm..."

"Since you said Star couldn't be a good dungeon master? Which was also...when you laid into her about...that whole me-going-to-Mewni thing..."

Ferguson gulped & tugged at his shirt, sweating almost profusely before turning to the nerd standing next to him & trying to hold some planks of board. "I told you he was still mad about that!"

"No no no, I'm not mad!" He urgently said back. "I-I'm just..." He loudly sighed. "Bummed out, I guess."

"Bummed? But why?"

"I don't know. How about the cheap shot you took at my girlfriend before Tom nearly fried your faces?"

They knew that was coming. It didn't make it any easier for the two of them to swallow it. "We were out of line with that, bro. We're sorry..."

"I appreciate that, but I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

"Well did she ever apologize to _you_ for leading you on?"

"She's still in pretty rough shape and her mind loves to screw with..." He turned sharply towards them & stared them down. "You did _not_ just say that."

"Look us in the eye, man, and tell us that's not what happened."

The hooded boy stammered incoherently. Is this really the hill his two nerd friends were going to die on? Apparently it was. "It wasn't like that at all! Y-You guys, really don't know what you're talking about. I didn't..."

"You don't remember, do you?" Alfonzo interrupted, taking Marco aback. "When you got back the first time, you wore that silly cape and talked about Mewni this, Star that _all the time_. You were always happy to talk about that girl."

"No, that I remember..."

"We all kinda expected you'd try to go back and see her again." Ferguson continued. "We just thought that when you came back, you guys would be...you know..._together_. And when you weren't, it was...kind of a slap in the face."

"A slap in the face?"

"And then you told us all about your "adventures" with her and...well, they sounded _nothing_ like any of the adventures you had with her while she was here. It was a lot of-"

"Busy work. Yeah...I know." Alfonzo & Ferguson being right didn't make it hurt any less. "Trust me I know how you feel. B-But it's not like she was trying to hurt me. She had a lot of responsibility just thrust onto her and she had to grow up fast. And my unexpected drop back into Mewni didn't really help matters."

"Yeah but that was _after_ she told you she was crushing on you. In front of Jackie, man!" Alfonzo chipped in again. "And then she blew you off like it was nothing and only kept you around because you were gonna do anything to make her see you, man. And then you guys came back and you weren't dating and she was, like, completely oblivious and-"

"Guys!" Marco yelled sternly to get their attention. "Slow down, bros..." He face-palmed himself and momentarily kept himself silent, formulating the sequence of words that needed to come out to straight all of this out. "Look...she dealt with a _lot_ of crap when she had to step up as princess & then royal advisor. She basically had to stop her _entire_ life just to help a kingdom filled with ignorant & ungrateful people that didn't care about the direction the kingdom needed to go in to thrive. She didn't have the time or the luxury to focus on her personal life."

"That didn't stop her from getting back together with that demon guy that she said was an angry hot head!"

"She had her reasons! Besides, Tom's actually really cool if you get to know him!

"That's not the point, dude!"

"Then what _is_ the point!?" Marco was quickly losing his patience. "Guys, why are you getting so angry about this? It's done, it's over, Star and I are together."

"Yeah, but did she, like, ever apologize for leading you on?" Ferguson asked him, which only served to further upset Marco.

"You don't think she ever apologized?" He crossed his arms and scowled at the two. "First of all, she never owed me an apology. I'm not _entitled_ to her like you guys seemed to be implying. Second of all, she _did_. And she hasn't _stopped_ apologizing since!"

At no point prior to this very moment did it occur to either Alfonzo or Ferguson that Star would actually be overly regretful for how she handled things in her life before now. What a mistake that was. "She hasn't?"

"The other day I woke up in the middle of the night...Star was in her rage room _wailing_ on everything in there that had her face on it. Glass vases, picture frames, pillows, you name it. It was probably the angriest I'd seen her since her...you know..." Nobody said it would be easy. "I keep telling her - she keeps telling herself - that everything that happened _needed_ to happen for us to have the happiness we have now. But she just...can't accept it. And those snide little comments you made at her the last time you were at my house don't help matters either."

The two nerds exchanged looks with each other. They knew exactly what Marco was referring to. Those rude, nasty outbursts they had, calling out Star making Marco a squire instead of a boyfriend upon his return to Mewni, all guised under a faux "outrage" over Star being a good dungeon master. "...We were out of line." Alfonzo admitted. No duh.

"It was never about the game, was it?" They shook their heads. "You guys were just mad because you thought she was being a crappy friend to me." He looked over and caught a glimpse of Star with Jackie, Chloe, Janna, and Tom. The former princess caught a view of Marco eyeing her and happily waved to him, Marco following suit. "Kind of like I've been a bit of a crappy friend to you two..." He turned back to the nerds.

"We just miss you, dude. Things were a lot more simple before she came around..." Ferguson covered his mouth & temporarily halted his speech. "...that didn't come out right."

Marco couldn't help but chuckle. "I know what you meant, a-and you're not wrong. But...what's done is done. We can't change what happened, even if we wanted to. All we can do is move forward and enjoy what we have now. So...can we bury the hatchet? Start over?" Marco held his out hand for a handshake. He didn't want to lose his friendship with them, just like they didn't want to lose their friendship with him. Ultimately, the two decided to accept, reaching out their hands slowly to grab his. But before they connected, a tiny water bottle popped up out of nowhere and got in the middle of their three-way handshake. They looked down and saw three adorable toddlers - a young 2-year old black girl, a 2 1/2-year old white boy, and a 2-year old black boy - standing there, giggling and holding up their water bottles to them. "Oh, hi you three! Is that for us?"

"Are these the kids from that orphanage Star's working at now?" Alfonzo asked as the three of them took their respective bottles & began gulping them down.

"Sure are. They're helping passing out the refreshments." Marco knelled down & ruffled each of their heads, eliciting giggles. "And they're doing a great job! Yes you are!" Ferguson & Alfonzo joined Marco on the ground briefly playing with the kids, who did their job of spreading refreshments _and_ joy brilliantly.

* * *

That was the same conclusion that Star drew, as she, over by the see-saw section with Jackie, Chloe, Tom, and Janna, observed the kids getting their kudos from Marco, Alfonzo, & Ferguson. "Man I love kids..." Star said to nobody in particularly, though the other four easily overheard her.

"Don't tell us you're already decorating a nursery in that castle of yours." Janna lovingly teased.

"Oh heck no. No need to worry about that. We're a _long_ ways from that."

"Really? I thought you'd be in a hurry to make a big family? How many did you guys say you wanted in the Realm of Magic? A thousand babies?"

Yes, Janna did indeed remember that little snippet from Marco. As did Star, evidenced by her face immediately turning a newly-discovered shade of red. The others couldn't help but laugh at her embarrassment. "O-Okay, yes I love babies but c'mon, I spent a year killing myself over unwanted responsibility thrust onto me. Why would I give myself _more_ just as soon as I get a break of sorts?"

"Says the girl that spends every night having a round under the blankets with the safe kid." Janna retorted back, thinking foolishly that she had the upper hand.

"Oh, innocent Janna..." Star placed a hand on Janna's shoulder and chuckled. "You think we only go one round."

"...That's hardly the point."

"You _made_ it the point." Her logic was sound; the two shared a laugh. "No, but seriously, I'm not looking to be a mother. We used triple protection every time. Parenthood is, like, years and years down the line."

"Heh, so what are you gonna do in the interim?"

Star chuckled along for a moment before it gradually died down, the question hitting her like a thousand pounds of bricks. "You mean, like, with my jobs o-or the political stuff, o-or..." Before now, Star felt like she was mostly in control of what her life had in store for her. Perhaps it was just that she was distracted enough to avoid a truly perilous look into what the future potentially offered her. "Uh..."

"Hey, chill, girl, it's just a question..." Janna said, returning the comforting hand-on-shoulder.

"I...I don't think I know."

"I thought you liked where you were." Tom interjected. "You got two really neat part-time jobs _and_ you're not bound by political obligations like you used to be."

"Yeah, I guess, but..." She shrugged as she put into place the board she was holding & started hammering away. "I don't know I feel like I should be farther along than I am. You know, at life."

"You're the same age as we are." Jackie pointed out.

"I mean _technically_ I am, but...you guys had a year's head start on figuring out where your lives are going to go while I was busy cleaning up my kingdom."

The four of them exchanged looks with each other. "...You do remember we're in _high school_, don't you?"

"Everyone except Chloe. She stays at home, the lucky tyke..."

"No, I said I am home_schooled_." Chloe corrected her. "My family feeds me a regular curriculum n the comfort of home. I never have to set foot in a classroom."

Star's eyes shot open in bewilderment. "...Oh."

"_What's high school?_" Tom whispered to Janna, but the girl brushed him off & kept her focus on Star.

"Where is this even coming from, anyway?! Is Diaz giving you a hard time all of a sudden-"

"No, no no no, it's not Marco. It's...it's me. Surprise surprise, huh?" A brief awkward silence followed as the group focused momentarily on actually building the see-saw. "I don't know, I guess I just look at you guys and Marco and I think 'They have it all figured out already."

"Have what figured out?"

"The rest of your lives. What you guys want to make of yourselves. Meanwhile it feels like I'm still searching for my purpose..."

Janna walked over to the sober girl and patted her shoulder. "Girl...again..._high school_."

"I don't-"

"Do you really think we have everything figured out by the time we're done with high school? Because whoever told you that straight-up lied to your face. Heck, some _adults_ don't even have their lives figured out."

That innocent comment made Star think back to her own parents; now that they were no longer royalty, they had to scramble to find some sort of new role in the cleaved world. Sure, they had a place on the shadow council installed by the mayor of Echo Creek, but that was hardly the same thing. Of course, they were delighted to no longer have the unmitigated burdens of running an entire kingdom, but beyond the shadow council, they needed a new purpose. "Yeah, I can relate. Still, I'm...I've never been like you guys. I had my life planned out for me...until I didn't. And now that I have the free reign to do _whatever_ I want, I guess I'm just not completely sure what that is...besides being with Marco."

"And what makes you think _we_ do?"

"Because you guys had a head start." Star pointed out. "And now look at you..." She turned to Jackie & Chloe. "You two are gonna go pro with your skating, aren't you?"

"Y-Yeah, that's the plan..." Jackie answered hesitantly. "Doesn't mean it'll pan out, though."

"Oh don't give me that, Jackie. You and Chloe are _way_ too good to not make it." Both Jackie & Chloe couldn't help but blush at the compliment as Star turned to Janna & Tom. "And Janna, you're...you're probably going to be queen of the underworld or however that works..."

Turns out that was something that hadn't even been discussed between Tom & Janna yet. The girl shot a look over to her demon boyfriend. "What's she talking about, Lucitor?" It didn't occur to Star until that exact moment that this hadn't previously come up in conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you would've mentioned that already."

"Did you think we're like you and Diaz-dork, planning our wedding & stuff already? We've only been dating for, what, a few weeks?"

"Yeah, we're going sl-" Tom's eyes shot open this time, as he turned quickly to face Janna. "Oh my god, I think that's the first time you've acknowledged us dating in public!"

Janna looked at him like he had six heads. "Oh my god you are _such_ a weeb."

Jackie ignored the two dorks & continued the talk with Star. "Girl, do you really think Marco has everything in his life figured out too?"

Star shrugged. "What makes you think he doesn't?"

"What makes _you_ think he _does_?"

Stupid logic. "I guess you have a point. But look, he's planning to go to college in the Spring, so obviously he has some things figured out. Me? I just...I guess I just feel a little lost. I feel like I should feel fulfilled what with my two part time jobs, helping make up that new Cornball league, my relationship with Marco, but..."

"You don't and you feel like you should."

"...I guess so. But that's silly, isn't it?"

They all seemed to murmur in agreement. "Star, look," Tom said, taking his turn to offer support to his ex. "Just because you don't think you have everything figured out yet doesn't mean you _never_ will. You can't compare yourself to everyone around you. No two lives are exactly the same. You gotta follow your own path & find _your_ way through life. And if it takes time, then it takes time."

Star hammered in the board she was holding before dropping the hammer she was holding on the ground & wiping her brow. "I know you're right. I guess I just feel like I should be doing _bigger_ things with my life. That was always the plan when I was royalty. But I like the smaller scale stuff. I like just being able to make an impact with people I'm close with in my life instead of feeling obligated to cater to _everyone_, you know? But the smaller stuff...it's a lot more fulfilling...and a lot less physically taxing." She gently took a seat on the ground, already feeling fatigued from the work they had been doing for the past couple of hours. "Is it me or is the world spinning right now?"

"Let's take five." Janna insisted, with the others easily agreeing & taking a seat next to her to comfort her. While this happened, a group of five toddlers - three boys and two girls, Miles among them - came storming up to them, each of them holding a water bottle & giggling. "We got company!"

Star's eyes lit up upon seeing the children pitter-pattering towards them. "_Babiiiiies..._" She swooned, reaching her arms out with whatever energy she had left. The children gravitated right towards Star as she hugged them all.

"Are these the kids from that orphan place Star works at?" Tom asked Janna, who silently nodded.

"Aww, they're so cute..." Jackie squeaked as the kids all got out of Star's grip.

"And look, they have water for us." Star pointed out the water bottles in their hands. "Would you like to meet my friends?" She asked the toddlers who all babbled in delight. "Okay!" She went through her friends one-by-one. "This is Tom, my ex. This is Janna, his girlfriend & my buddy..." Everyone took note of the light blush on Star's face when she mentioned Janna. "This is Jackie..." And then of the aggressive blush on her face when she mentioned Jackie. "...and _her_ girlfriend Chloe!" And now it was time for her to introduce her friends to the children. "Guys, this is Makenzie..." Each children babbled and/or clapped upon being roll-called. "This is Lilly...this is Koli...this is Olivia..." She saved Miles for last, having a special bond with the little tyke. She gently wrapped her arms around the boy. "And _this_ little guy is Miles. He's my little buddy."

The little tyke reached his arms out and happily babbled. Jackie was the first to reach out to him & hold him. "He's _adorable_." She said sweetly, gently kissing his forehead and squishing his face, causing him to laugh. The other three grabbed a child & hugged them too. Even Janna, despite her reservations. They frequently switched kids so that everyone got a turn with each kid.

"I may not be the great "political mastermind" that this world needs right now, but I can be a good influence to young minds that need pointing in the right direction." Star said as they finally put the babies down and took a big chug of their respective water bottles. "And these little angels are worth the effort. Okay kids, go get more water & go help some others, okay?"

Four of the five kids ran off laughing. Miles, however, stayed behind, staring intently at Star's friends. "Miles?" She knelled down & hugged the boy. "What's the matter?"

The boy looked at Star, then back at the group, carefully pointing at the latter. "S-Squishy." The boy managed to eek out, which made Janna playfully roll her eyes, Tom smile, and Chloe & Jackie blush. Star began to laugh.

"Yes, they are all very cute & squishy." She replied with a chuckle.

"Um...he never said "cute." Jackie interjected with a flirty wink.

"W-Yes he did!" He turned Miles to face her; the boy was still widely grinning & laughing. "You said they were cute, didn't you? Didn't you!?" But the boy paid no mind to her question and instead proceeded to peck her face lightly with kisses, which the other four found simply delightful. "Stop being so cute! Stop being so cute, sweetie!"

* * *

Over in another part of the park, Ludo & Dennis found themselves with a group tasked with building a monkey-bars/swing/slide attraction. "Didn't we use to have one of these contraptions back at our old place?" Ludo asked his brother as he hammered in the pieces of board he was holding.

"Yeah, too bad Dad never let us play on it." Dennis remarked. "Always had this linchpin about anything "fun." Always such a brow-beater!"

"Well, thankfully for you and I that's all over now. We have our castle, and nothing can take that away from us!"

"You know it-" While carrying some boards & bolts, Dennis tripped over himself, spilling everything in his hands. But he also spilled something from one of his pockets. It was an opened envelope containing a letter. Ludo dashed to his brother.

"Brother! Are y-" But as he was helping his brother up, he took notice of the letter that had fallen out of his pocket. "What's this?"

"Oh that, t-that's nothing. Nothing!" Dennis quickly stammered, which only further rose Ludo's suspicious. Ludo took the letter out of the envelope and examined it. As it turned out, it was a letter written by none other than their father. He silently read it over and over to himself. In short, the letter served as a plea of appeal from him for their attention. It contained the usual suspect lines: "_I've changed." "I'm not the person I used to be." "I miss you and I want you to come home."_ The whole spiel. But as Ludo continued reading, it became obvious to Dennis that Ludo wasn't buying it.

"I see the old man is up to his old tricks again!" As it turned out, this was not the first time their father had tried to play this card on them. "Cant stand that miserable toad!" He crumbled up the letter angrily & threw it onto the ground. "Everything will be far better once he finally-" He looked up at his brother to see that the seething fury he was feeling for his father was not reciprocated by Dennis. At least not outwardly. "Oh don't tell me you're buying it!"

Dennis rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous manner. Ludo was not going to like what was about to come out. "...what if he means it?"

"Oh for heaven's sake, Dennis! He does this every time!" He marched up to his brother and - despite his significantly shorter stature - looked him square in the eye. "You remember what happened the last time, don't you?" Ludo took a deep breath, preparing to reminisce a painful time in his life. "It was right after Eclipsa's coronation. He somehow finds out where we're residing, he _crashes_ into our house _uninvited!_ And then he has the _gall_ to lash out and wonder why we never tried to reach him! Oh, I don't know, old man: how about 'because you're nothing but an abusive, egotistical, neglectful, pathetic excuse for a father!" He gritted his teeth as he panted hard. "You remember what he was life? The violent outbursts! The distasteful insults! He _always_ put us down! He _always_ made us feel worthless!"

"But you know how it was! He said it was to "toughen us up!"

"And that makes it okay!? Just because he was trying to "toughen me up" that makes it okay for him to grab me by delicate little head and throw me across the room!?" By this point he had turned his back to Dennis; he didn't want his brother to see him cry. "He always thought I was a mistake. Never hesitated to spit that at me."

Dennis's jaw almost hit the ground. He couldn't fathom what he was hearing. "Is...is that why you started wearing that weird skull helmet?"

Ludo nodded. "It was supposed to cover up the bruise. But then I got carried away & forgot why I started wearing it..."

"And is _that_ why you seized control of the castle & kicked us all out?"

Finally, after a moment of internal clarity, Ludo turned to face his crestfallen brother. "He always said that if I told anyone what he did to me, his incoming fist would be the last thing my eyes ever saw. I couldn't tell anyone what happened...I feared nobody would believe me. And I suppose he never said anything either, lest he give the game away..."

"So you never...actually wanted the wand?"

"Well...no, I did. I thought I could use it to take my revenge on that blasted excuse for a father. I suppose I just got caught up in all of the hubbub."

"Ludo, you could've told me! I didn't know!"

"I didn't _want_ you to know! I was terrified! I didn't know what to think, w-whether he was singling me out or he did the same to everyone or-"

A single tear fell down Dennis's face. "I mean h-he berated & insulted us. But...he never...threw his fists at us."

"So I _was_ special."

Dennis took the letter back from Ludo. "This changes everything."

Ludo understandably raised an eyebrow. "Does it?"

"Of course it does!" Dennis lashed out angrily, which took Ludo by surprise. "Look i-it's one thing when you're someone that has a fowl mouth and you spew garbage without regard for others around you. It's a whole other thing when you start physically violating someone! If I had known any of this had happened before I never would've even given him a second thought."

"No, wait!" Ludo pleaded, a sudden wave of guilt overwhelming him. "I-I mean, don't...don't let me stop you."

"What?!"

"Your experience with Father was far different from mine. What kind of animal would I be if I were to stand in the way of what could be a beautiful relationship with one of our parental figures?"

But Dennis would hear none of it. He ripped up the letter on the spot and put the pieces in one of his pockets. "Not as bad as the kind I would be if I were to enable someone who hurt someone close to me."

Now tears were swelling up in both of their eyes. Years of misery & suffering were seemingly melting away as the two took yet another step towards burying the past once and for all & moving forward with their lives. The two were about to embrace each other only to find themselves interrupted by the sound of little toddlers running their way. They looked over in another direction & saw two toddlers - as well as Buff Frog & his children & several other human toddlers - running towards them, all of them holding a water bottle.

The two closest toddlers approached them, laughing their heads off, and handed Ludo & Dennis a bottle. "Look! It is tiny delivery service!" Buff Frog shouted, noting the toddlers passing out water bottles to the workers. "Greatest invention since the light bulb!"

Ludo's eyes lit up; it had been ages since he and Buff Frog had properly interacted with one another. He lifted his arm up to wave. "Nice to see you too, old friend!" But his wave was cut short when the other toddlers arrived & began playfully climbing on Dennis & Ludo. "No, get off me! I'm ticklish!"

It was too late: the children had infected them all with the disease known as innocent laughter.

* * *

The rest of the day went mostly well. Work continued well into the evening until the sun was starting to set, where more of the volunteers chose to retire for the day. It got to the point where the only ones still left at the park were the Butterfly family, Marco & his parents, and their friends. Star was sitting on the ground, completely exhausted from the manual labor but in a good mood. There was still plenty of work to be done to complete the build, but hey, it was only one day.

"I'd say this first day of the community build has been a rousing success!" Globgor exclaimed, with everyone agreeing.

"I am _toast_..." Star slurred, barely keeping herself awake. "Think I pushed myself a little too hard there...but man we got a lot done."

"We had a lot of good help." Marco noted.

"And there wasn't any trouble from our people!" Eclipsa also noted. "Quite surprising. I expected there to be a lot more pushback."

"Perhaps they're saving it for when we're nearing completion." Moon suggested. "Whatever the case, I agree. Today has been immensely successful! We're actually ahead of schedule!"

"Whoopie...!" Star cheered, holding up both arms with thumbs up. "That's _great_..." Her boyfriend approached her and sat down next to her, gently kissing her cheek.

"I think we should all go home now, and get you to bed." He commented, stroking her hair.

"Whaaaaat? No, no no no...I'm...I'm not tired..." She slurred badly as she was basically on the edge of sleep. "W-Where are we again...?"

In the distance, Marco caught sight of Reggie, Greta, and the toddlers from the orphanage heading their way. They were all in a great mood & eager to see Star again. "I'll tell you where you are..." Marco said to his girlfriend. "Heaven."

"Heaven?" The sound of the toddlers happily babbling finally reached her ears, and in an instant, she shot up and got a good look at them. "_Baaaabies..._" She stuck her arms out for a hug. "Hi babies!" She shouted as the all ambushed her carefully & smothered her with hugs. "You guys were _so_ good today, weren't you? Passing out water and making sure we were all hydrated today. Oh, you were so cute out there!"

"They wanted to know if they did a good job." Reggie commented as the majority of the babies pulled off of Star and looked at her in the eyes, smiles as wide as they could be.

"Oh you guys did an _amazing_ job. We're so proud of you! In fact..." Star looked up at her folks. "Mom, Dad, I think these little guys have earned a little reward, don't you think?"

Moon and River nodded as they reached into the crate behind them and pulled out packages of individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies. There was enough for each toddler to receive exactly one. The kids all ran towards them as they dangled the cookies for them. Each toddler took one and carefully examined it. To everyone's surprise, they didn't immediately begin devouring them. In fact, they looked over at Star, almost as if they wanted to ask her permission.

"Guys, it's okay...you've earned those. Go ahead." She urged them. But they didn't take the bait. No, it wasn't the cookies that they wanted. It was Star. Every single toddler dropped the cookies onto the ground and dashed right back to Star, smothering her with even more affection as they happily babbled & played on her like she was a statue. Overwhelmed with love, Star began tearing up. "My babies..." She said before completely melting down due to the cuteness. "_**MY BABIES! THEY LOVE ME!**_" She was in full blown sob mode, but it was a sob filled with utter joy as the babies expressed their own love for the girl.

On the sidelines, none of them could help but gush at the sight before them. "I love that girl so much." Marco lamented, wiping a tear from his own eye.

"You still worried about her?" Janna sincerely asked him. He took a moment to contemplating before responding.

"A little. But _only_ a little."

* * *

**End of Episode 23!**

**So fun fact...we're approaching the 1 year anniversary of the first chapter of "When Dimensions Cleave," the story that started this ginormous project I've been working on ever since! :D**

**I apologize that this took a bit longer to get out than what you've gotten used to: as I mentioned in the past, things are picking up here in terms of packing the house and moving, so I expect that this slower schedule will become the new norm, if not now, then eventually. But I have no intention of stopping. Especially since things are going to heat up...**

**In the interim, please feel free to read & leave feedback! I appreciate all the support & criticism I've gotten this story. Thank you everyone! :D**


	24. Is Yet Another Mystery

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 24: Is Yet Another Mystery**

**Episode Summary: While on a reprieve from the big build, Star & friends are asked to investigate a disturbance at the Monster Temple. **

**Original Release Date: August 3, 2020**

* * *

The first day of the big building project was mostly a success. Though there was still work to be done, the progress that had been made on that first day was incredibly encouraging. So encouraging, in fact, that Star was eager to get back out there on Day 2 of the build to pick up where they left off. And Day 3...and Day 4...

Unfortunately, by then, Star had completely exhausted herself. Her eager ambition to see the project to its completion & desire to play a large part of the build took a toll on her. Though her spirits remained quite high, her energy levels were depleted; this was also the case for her friends. It got to the point where the Butterfly family had to intervene for their healthy & safety, insisting they sit out Day 5 of the big build.

"Mooooom, you can't..." Star whined as she laid on her back, stretched across the floor. Her friends surrounded her in varied sitting and/or laying positions. Of the group, Star was the only one still in sleepwear. "We're so close to being done, we wanna see it throooough..." She was extremely wiped out, as evidenced by her slight word-slurring.

"You all have done immeasurable work the past few days." Moon said to the tired group. "You all should be proud."

"But you were never supposed to carry the bulk of the burden." Globgor implored on them. "We _all_ have a duty to pitch in."

"It's no trouble, honest..." Marco said, rubbing his aching shoulder while his baby sitter, sitting next to him, looked on in a trance.

"My boy, you've lugged more than enough heavy crates to last a fortnight." River said sternly. "You lug any more and you'll hurt yourself, especially with your poor posture."

"My poor...what?"

"You gotta lift with your legs, Diaz." Jackie said; she was slumped over a chair. "Not your back."

"Since when are you an expert on heavy lifting?" He curiously asked his ex.

"My dad used to be a construction worker and I'd help him lug boxes _everywhere_."

Marco stayed silent for a moment; his eyes darted towards Jackie's legs - and a quick glance at her rear - then back to her eyes, and then he absent-mindedly said, "I guess that explains a lot, then" before quickly covering his mouth & blushing hard. And of course, being the tease that she was, Star pounced immediately on this.

"Explains a lot about _what_, Mr. Diaz?" She nudged his arm playfully & winked. He had to quickly stammer for a comeback.

"A-About how she's...she's so good with the skateboard. You know...c-cause of her legs. Her legs are...in good shape..." An incredibly poor cover for himself that sparked a chuckle from Jackie.

"_Riiiiight_." And of course Star couldn't help but get in another playful dig at him before turning back to her mother. "Mom are you _sure_ you guys don't want us out there today?"

Moon approached her daughter and took a knee. "You all have done marvelously for us these past few days. And _you_, especially, Star. You've been a rock for us for such a long time."

"_Moooom_..." She never quite liked how long they intended to play the "Star's work on Mewni after Toffee's demise earned her a rest" card. But the more she resisted, the more they insisted. She _hated_ accepting praise that she felt was undeserved. But she couldn't find it in her to be upset at her mother's tenderness. "Thank you. I love you." She said as she embraced her mother as tightly as she could. Moon tried to pull away & break off the hug after a brief moment, only to be pleasantly surprised when Star wouldn't move. Ever so slowly Star was embracing this new dynamic, warming Moon's heart.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

"Perhaps there _is_ something you all can do for us if you're so insistent on staying busy." Eclipsa chimed in.

"Anything!" Star tried her best to perk up, eager to remain helpful. But the toll the past several days had taken on her was evident. "Whatever it is, I'm your gal."

"Relax, my dear, it's nothing strenuous."

"We're just having some problems with the Monster Temple." Globgor explained.

"The Monster Temple?"

"Yes..." During a meeting between Echo Creek elected officials and the Butterfly family (i.e. **Episode 12: Intrusive Intervention**), it was decided that a long-term solution was needed to provide proper homes for the monsters who had been migrated into Earthni with the mewmans. The mewmans - for the most part - lucked out & all managed to keep the homes they still had. The monsters, however, were not as lucky. It was decided that, at least in the short-term, the now-vacant Monster Temple would be used as a temporary house for them (Eclipsa & Globgor were invited by Moon & River to live in the castle full-time while Star & Marco were on their vacation).

The temple was to act as a sort of government-funded shelter in the short-term, ensuring that the monsters received food, water, utilities, and even some money for their own use. Eventually plans were intended to help the monsters find their own homes, either through Globgor building said homes or allowing the monsters to purchases said homes with the money they've received, as well as jobs to contribute to society. Recently, though, there's been a hitch in those plans...

So that's why you and Globgor have been living in the castle..." Star said after they finished explaining what was going on.

"I didn't realize the temple was big enough to hold all of them." Marco commented.

"You would be surprised."

"So what's the deal?"

"Well, from our intel, it appears that there's been a small setback in that arrangement. The residents at the temple didn't receive their bi-weekly pool of money, the utilities seem to not be working properly, and the tenants are getting restless."

"Is that so...?" Suddenly Star's head began dipping into the "conspiracy theory" pool. The circus trial of her father, River, was still fresh in her mind. The way that group of rogue mewmans tried to frame River for a crime he didn't commit when the one he _did_ commit was more than enough to send him away anyway. The way that they specifically used that trial to go after Star and her fragile psyche. Their hatred of monsters, the cleaved world, _and_ Star all rolled into one ugly package. "Seems a little suspicious to me..."

"We don't want to suspect foul play just yet, but after the fiasco with your father's trial-"

"No no, I get it. It's better to be safe."

"Are you sure you want to handle it?" Moon asked her, gently caressing her hair like she was still a young child.

"Of course." Star smiled warmly at her mother a smile that was half-sincere, half-guilt ridden. "It's a privilege to serve the monarchy-I MEAN it's no trouble lending a hand!" Poor Star, still haunted by her loyalty to the royal family. Unfortunately her efforts to cover up her misspeak did not go over anyone's heads. Her mother hugged her even more tightly.

"And it's a privilege to be your mother."

"Aww, Mom..." Neither wanted the hug to end. But business eventually had to take over. "Alright, we'll go investigate."

"Please be careful out there. You can't be too certain these days..." On that note, the family departed, leaving the kids by themselves. Star, with what little energy she had, stood up & dusted herself off, heading to her closet to get herself dressed, putting on her dark green spider dress & preparing to get going.

* * *

The first stop the group made was to City Hall, where Star & Marco had themselves a sit-down with the mayor. Since the plan of using the monster temple to house monsters that were left homeless due to the cleaving originated from elected officials, the mayor was the one to take the lead on this action. He was shocked to learn of the developments. "That's strange..." He said, flipping through some papers on his desk. "Our records indicate that we made the payment as scheduled..."

"We're not here to point fingers or start any trouble." Star reassured him in a calm, nurturing tone. "We only want to get to the bottom of this."

"It's funny that you bring this up," The mayor took out a piece of paper. "We got this in our inbox..." He handed Star & Marco the paper. It was a simple drawing of a monster with a big red X over it, with the word "NO" written over it.

"Why is that funny?"

"Because it came in about a week ago, right before that nonsense with your father started." Referring to the circus that was River's trial. Could this be another part of those Mewmans' convoluted revenge scheme to get to Star?

"My dad's trial, you say..."

"You're not thinking...?" Marco turned to his girlfriend.

"It could be just a coincidence. But...I'm not buying it." She turned back to the mayor. "So how exactly does this arrangement work?"

"Well, our office and the shadow council discussed how to accommodate your world's creatures while we integrate them into our world. It was decided that we would temporarily house them in...what do you call it, the "Monster Temple?" Until we could establish proper housing for them. We provide them with financial aid to help them go about their everyday lives _and_ prepare them for the future. We also provided utilities such as electricity & clean running water so they can have a modicum of normal daily living. All the while we prepped actual construction of homes for them to live in in the future."

"So their stay in the temple is temporary." Marco clarified.

"Exactly."

"Have any of them been causing any problems? Like, I don't know, complaints about the temple or the arrangement or-" Star asked.

"Oh heavens no. Quite the opposite, actually. It's been such a smooth operation...until now, at least. I'm sending some of our officials over to investigate the problem."

"Well we'll meet them there, I guess. We're heading over there now to do our own investigative work." Star stood herself up, shook the mayor's hand, and started to leave, while the mayor got Marco's attention.

"While I have you, Mr. Diaz..." He said, _just_ loudly enough for Star's head to turn as she headed out the door. "About that statue you wanted to commission..."

"Oh, uh, n-no no no no, cancel that. Just cancel it." He tried to cover himself; Star had already found out about the existence of said statue, but now he had to actually call it off before it was too late.

"...I was only going to s-"

"Look, I-I shouldn't have troubled you with that. Just forget I ever brought it up, please."

Unfortunately, Star wasn't entirely on board with that mind set.

"Um, excuse me..." She said, garnering their attention. "Maybe...we can table those talks until after we get things sorted out at the temple?"

The mayor hesitated. "Sure, I think that's reasonable enough." But he accepted the proposal nonetheless. Marco, however, was not as thrilled.

"What was that for?" He whispered to her once they were out of the office. "Ten more seconds and it would've been a done deal."

"I..." It was now _her_ turn to cover her tracks. "I just want to make sure you've thought everything through, that's all. Maybe it's not best for you to be making that kind of decision when we have something important going on."

Naturally, Marco questioned her motives. Here was a girl who, at every turn, has resisted _any_ sort of praise lavished on her for her work. Any sort of compliment, pat on the back, hair ruffle, present...all of it was resisted at every turn because the demons in her mind wouldn't let her accept it. Now this? But seeing as time was not something they wanted to waste, Marco accepted her response for the time being & went off, expecting Star to follow behind. She stayed behind momentarily if only to take a good long look at her reflection in one of the mirrors on the wall next to her. How she had sunken so low as to loathe her reflection, a reflection of the person standing in her own boots, the person that had been praised & compliment left & right for her tireless service, the person that had been shown eternal gratitude by her loved ones...

"_Why can't you **ever** let me have **anything**_!?" She hissed to her own reflection.

"_**Because screw you, that's why**_!" Her tortured mind made the reflection say back; it finished its mind game by spitting at Star. But she didn't have time for this; she punched the wall right next to the mirror, leaving a crater. Once again she only barely stopped herself in time from hitting the glass. Without another moment passing, she bolted & followed Marco out of the building.

* * *

They, along with the rest of their friends, headed towards the Monster Temple, where Pony Head was also now part of the group for some reason. A quick look through the halls and the rooms confirmed their worst-case scenario beliefs: that conditions in the temple were rather poor, though through no fault of the monsters themselves. They came into one room to see a group of monsters cleaning up the room - some were sweeping the floor, others were trying to change a light bulb with no success. "Um...hello..." Star softly spoke, garnering their attention. They all stopped what they were doing & turned to face her. Buff Frog, who was changing the light bulb, was delighted to see her.

"Star Butterfly!" He exclaimed, climbing down from the ladder and approaching them.

"Hi Buff Frog!"

"What brings you and friends over?"

"Oh, you know, we were in the neighborhood, and...we heard things here weren't going so great lately."

"Is true. Finances are beginning to dwindle & appliances are failing. Electricity also giving us stink-eye."

"Stink-eye?" Typical Buff Frog speak. "And how long has this been going on?"

"Two week, maybe. And money has not arrived either."

"Two weeks, huh?" The timeline did not strike Star as coincidental; River's arrest & trial took place around the same time that this was supposedly happening. "Do you mind if we take a look around? Maybe a fresh set of eyes will help figure out what's going on around here."

"It is pleasure to welcome Star Butterfly & friends into our home!"

"If that's true, then, like, where's the welcome feast?" Pony Head said with a smirk; it was obvious she was being tongue-in-cheek, but the monsters took it a slightly different way.

"Oh, where are our manners?" One of them exclaimed, as the lot of them dropped whatever they were doing and started shuffling towards the door.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold your horsies!" Pony Head shouted in response. "I was, like, kidding! I was kidding, fools..." The monsters groaned disappointingly, a reaction that nobody in Star's group expected. "I mean, like, unless you, like, want to or whatever."

"Come! We shall make festive meal for guests before we begin dirty work!" Buff Frog led the group of monsters out of the room, leaving the group of teens & Pony Head behind. Poor Pony Head couldn't make heads - no pun intended - or tails of what just happened.

"K so I have, like, so many questions..." She spouted out as they all followed the monsters. As they were walking through the halls, Star started to fall behind, her pace slowing. Marco took notice first and pulled back from the group. Star's heart issues were back again with a vengeance. Everyone turned around to see what was happening. "B-Fly?" Pony Head squeaked.

"You guys go ahead, we'll catch up." Marco reassured them. Pony Head was about to open her mouth again, only to be silently stopped by Janna. It was best to let them handle this, which is what they did by returning to their path.

Marco helped Star down onto the floor, her holding her chest & breathing heavily. Her skin was going pale. "That's it, sweetheart. Breathe..." She was sweating, her body starting to shake. "It's okay..."

Star's breathing started to slow down; she was regaining composure. Soon enough she was breathing completely normally, her sweat was gone, and her skin was back to its normal color. "Whoa..."

"See? There you go, you look-"

"Something's off." She said flatly with a look of worry on her face.

"...What do you mean?"

"I...it just...went away."

"That's good, though! Isn't it?"

"No it...it was _different_ this time." Marco could tell instantly how hard it was for her to articulate exactly what was going on. This time was unlike any of the previous scares.

"O-Okay, I...I don't understand, but I have no reason to doubt you. L-Let's just catch up with the others and we can figure this out later..." Without any trouble, Star stood up & dusted herself off, which caught Marco off guard.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get going." She gently took his hand & kissed the back of it. "Why are you so good to me?"

He responded with a loving smile & a kiss. "Because you deserve it." They embraced & went off, catching up with the others. Once they were all out of sight, something began to happen: right near the spot where Star & Marco sat, teen Mariposa & Meteora, hand-in-hand, along with Cassandra, unveiled themselves, having been cloaked in an aura of invisibility & trapped inside a magical bubble that allowed the two teens to maintain their neverzone ages. Mariposa was holding the new wand, looking like she had seen a ghost.

"...What did you do?" Meteora asked her friend.

"Absolutely nothing." Mariposa stuttered. "I...I don't think I did."

"It looks like there _is_ some sort of correlation between her condition and the magic..." Cassandra lamented. "But we'll need more information to know for certain."

"And you think we'll find those answers here?"

"There's no harm to looking, is there?"

"I don't think I've ever actually been here before..." Mariposa droned, taking a wide-eyed look around the hall they were in.

"It's not really anything special." Was Meteora's monotone response before her friend lifted her wand & unleashed its power, teleporting them away from the scene.

* * *

The group arrived at the room that served as the cafeteria. Once there, the problems the monsters were experiencing became exacerbated; the stove, oven, microwave, _and_ lights all began to malfunction. The gang had to pitch in to get everything at least functional again. It was almost a circus act trying to get everything going. But with everyone lending a hand, it eventually got to a point where they could at least use everything...until it came time to actually _use_ to appliances. Eventually the monsters just gave up & made sandwiches for everyone. The gesture was still greatly appreciated.

"So...how's everything here, all things considered?" Star awkwardly asked Buff Frog as she took a bite into her sandwich.

"All is well." Buff Frog reassured them. "We are happy. We have good roof over heads, friends among us, and a fascinating magic box in den providing mighty entertainment for us."

Pony Head had a look on her face that indicated she had seen a ghost. "Magi-"

"Television." Marco was quick to educate her.

"Ohhhhh right right right that old thing..."

"So these old things that keep breaking on you..." Star turned back to Buff Frog.

"We chalk it to our ignorance. We are vastly unfamiliar with technologies of karate boy's world."

"Yeah technologically speaking, Mewni was a few hundred years behind Earth. But what about the money?"

"Elected officials pay us very handsomely. More than adequate to survive the days...at least when money comes."

"Yeah we...we know you guys didn't get your last check."

"You suspect foul play?"

"Yup. Ever since they tried to pop her dad at the trial, that's the first conclusion we jump to." Janna jumped in, taking a bite out of her sandwich as well.

"Can you blame me? More and more it feels like my own people are coming after me." Star lamented, prompting a pat on the back from her boyfriend. "All because they resented Eclipsa giving the monsters their homes back."

"It was quite an affair, to be fair." Buff Frog interjected, reflecting on the event in question. "Hey, I made rhyming!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Words have similar endings thus rh-"

"No the other thing."

"Oh, yes. I was still out of Mewni on day, but from what was told to me Eclipsa had royal knights invade mewman land and make them leave."

"Wait, she sicked the royal knights on them!?" Star's jaw nearly hit the ground. During the time she spent looking for her mother following the defeat of Meteora, Eclipsa used it as an opportunity to take back the land that had been unfairly stolen from the monsters. A noble gesture on its own, yes. Unfortunately, there wasn't much "noble" about how it happened, as Eclipsa used the royal knights at her disposal - as well as her attempt to use the queen's power at her dispoal - to push the mewmans out. "W-When did this happen? I don't remember that! I-I know the mewmans were gone when we got back with Mom, but..."

"Is that why they hated her?" Marco asked.

"I think it not helped."

"I always just assumed they left peacefully yet begrudgedly." Star lamented. "But if Eclipsa actually deployed the knights on them...maybe some of their irrational anger towards me isn't so irrational after all..."

"Yeah but shouldn't it go to Eclipsa instead?" Marco surmissed. "Last I checked _she_ was the queen, not you."

"Yeah but _I_ was the one that gave her the throne. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah, right..."

"She was extremely accomadating to our kind. Myself and children as well when we returned to Mewni full time." Buff Frog continued.

"Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize how...lopsided her treatment of monsters was compared to mewmans."

"She did the exact same thing my family always did, just with the roles reversed..." Star again lamented. "Helps explain where we are now, I guess..."

"Hey, Buff Frog, do you guys still have any pay stubs from the last check you guys got?" Marco asked, eager to switch the topic back to the reason why they were all there in the first place. Buff Frog pulled out some papers from his pockets & handed them to Marco, who carefully examined the papers. "Well, these all have the same watermarks and information layouts as the one the mayor showed us. So it's not like we're dealing with fraud here."

"The only explanation I can think of is the most recent check was intercepted...guess we'll have to figure out who it was that did it if we want to get to the bottom of this."

"Something's not right..." The wheels in Marco's brain were turning. "The timing is just too suspicious for it to be a coincidence."

"Could it really be those same guys that started that whole trial mess?"

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"Is there a way to find out?"

"You know what?" Janna finished her sandwich & stood up. "Leave that to me. I've got ways of getting information..."

"Janna."

"Without hurting anyone, geez. Give me a _little_ credit. Let me do some snooping on my own, see what I can find."

"You sure you can handle it on your own?"

"If I can handle dating a demon, I can handle anything."

* * *

So after some more time passed, it was decided: for the time being, the group would break off and go their separate ways; Jackie went home, Tom returned to the Underworld, Janna scoured back to City Hall while Star & Marco trudged back the Butterfly Castle. At the castle, they found Star's folks lounging around in one of the study rooms. The park build session for the day had ceased. "Hello there kids!" Rafael bellowed, giving both of them a hug along with Angie.

"Have you uncovered any information?" Eclipsa asked.

"We, uh...we're still working on that." Star said somberly. "Janna's doing her thing snooping around for clues. But as far as we tell it's just the money that's an outside issue. The monsters just needed some guidance on how to work everyday appliances."

"That's excellent news!"

"Yeah, yeah, it is..." Star was eager to get to the point; she speedwalked over to the table and took a seat near Eclipsa. "So, anyway, Eclipsa...I've been thinking..."

"About what, deary?"

"Well, my dad, Marco, and I were gone for a while when Mom went missing, and you were here running things as queen...I never got around to asking you how that went? You know, if was early in your tenure, a-and I'm sure you could've used my help just starting out before I became your advisor..."

"Oh no no no, don't be silly. Your mother was more important. I had things...mostly under control." Eclipsa said with a slight nervous laugh. "The only major event in your absence was the monsters had the land rightfully returned to them."

"Yeah, I noticed. I gotta tell ya, I was...I was surprised when we came home to that."

"I wanted to start my tenure on a good note, that's all."

Perhaps a well meaning sentiment but a _very_ poor choice of words on Eclipsa's part. "Um...I'm not sure I'd call kicking your own people off the land a "good note," but that's just me."

"Where is this even coming from anyways?" Moon asked her daughter. "...what does any of this have to do with the possibly missing money?"

"Well...that's what I'd like to know, too."

The adults all looked at each other like they were trying to solve Advanced Calculus. "I don't think I follow."

"Okay, so, see, we were talking with the monsters at the temple, and...we started talking about when Eclipsa first took the throne. And how she was super accommodating to the monsters, but not so much to the mewmans...you know, the fun stuff."

It was only a matter of time before this came up. "I see..."

"They told us about how you brought the royal knights with you when you went to confront the mewmans & take back the land for the monsters."

Moon's head darted towards Eclipsa. It was a detail that had gone largely unacknowledged by the circle of family until now. "Is that true?"

"W-Well, yes...I was on a royal assignment, I had to take back up with me. You make it sound like I was engaging them in fierce battle & planning to amputate their limbs."

"You obviously _weren't_, were you?"

"Of course not. We were civil about it. I merely explained to the mewmans my new decree that the land that they were living on was to be returned to the monster lest there be consequences."

"Did they fight it?" Star asked Eclipsa.

"...I think they were too scared and uncertain of me to try. I had only been queen for...a very short time, and my reputation - unjustified for the record - did precede me."

"So you scared off the mewmans from the monsters' land to try and fix the problems that your mom caused all those years ago." Star looked down at the table, now struggling to look them in the eye.

"...Sweetheart, where are you going with this?" Moon inquired.

"I don't know. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. It's just..." _Now_ she looked up at them. "We seem to have a really screwed up philosophy when we try to fix mistakes. We overcompensate...big time. Mom, you used to be so distant & cold with me because you spent so much time putting the kingdom ahead of yourself and your family. Now you're trying to "fix" it by being super overly loving & affectionate towards us...towards _me_." Star was extremely careful to word her sentence so it was clear Star appreciated the gestures and was only trying to make a point. "You make me meals in bed, you sometimes carry me around like I'm still a little girl, you spoil me in public, you tell me how proud of me you are even when the only thing I accomplish during the day is getting out of bed. Which...thank you, for all of that. But you never needed to do any of it to make things right with me."

Star started to twiddle her thumbs, bracing herself. "_I_ had to put my whole life on hold for a year to serve our kingdom & I neglected a lot of personal things, and now I'm trying to "fix" it by being uber attentive to my friends - Tom, Jackie, Janna, Kelly - and to my boyfriend, whose opinion holds more weight to me than all of the others. And I'm also overly apologizing for everything, even if I've literally done nothing wrong. And all it's doing to me is making me bang my head against the wall."

"M-Metaphorically, right?" Marco quickly inquired; the threat of physical self-harm was always lingering with Star, even if she rarely acted on it. She declined to answer.

"And _you_, Marco, _you_ thought you were a bad squire & failed me, and you thought the only way you _deserved_ to be with me was if you acted as a squire, and so you're spending so much time & energy trying to "fix" what wasn't broken. Propping me up at your expense, spoiling me to no end, putting me on a pedestal, wasting government resources on a frivolous gift..."

"Governmental resources?" Globgor finally interjected. "What is she talking about?"

"Marco, my boy? What are you getting into?" River also joined in.

The boy took a breath and turned to face Moon. "I...I asked City Hall to commission a statue of Star for the new park."

The family took turns "aww'ing" at this development. Star beamed with uneasy pride. "I think I guilted him into trying to call it off."

"Wait, so you _do_ want it now?"

"I don't know, Marco! That's part of the problem-argh, we'll talk about it later." She gently kissed his cheek & smooshed her cheek against his briefly, a showcase of affection for her beloved. "And you, Eclipsa," Before turning back to Eclipsa now. "Your mother, Queen Solaria, kicked the monsters off their land unfairly, and then you came along & "fixed" it by kicking the mewmans off of that land & forcefully giving it back to the monsters."

"I don't understand the problem you're inferring, sweetie. I was righting a wrong, was I not? Those mewmans had no business being there, they were wrongly awarded that land!"

"I get what you're saying, but here's the thing...you were crystallized for over 300 years!" Eclipsa raised an eyebrow; it was obvious she still wasn't getting Star's point. "The mewmans you kicked off that land were _not_ the same ones that migrated to that land when Solaria kicked the monsters out in the first place! Heck, I'm not even sure they were of the same bloodlines!" _Now_ it was getting through to Eclipsa, evidenced by the horrified look on her face. "You did the exact same thing your own mother did, just with the roles reversed. I'm sure your intentions were good, but what's that Earth saying? Two wrongs don't make a right?"

Eclipsa hung her head in shame. "I guess I was so caught up in my outrage towards monsters that I didn't consider the big picture. But I never expected that our people would just willingly leave."

"Well I can't say I blame you there. Our people are pretty dang stubborn, ignorant, & hard-headed. Then again I don't think a monarchy where the queens tried to do all the thinking for the people really helped matters..." While not intended as a slight at Moon, Moon certainly took it hard. "It's gotten to a point where some of our people are so disillusioned & angry that they're taking it out on us...on _me_. All because we're trying to make things better. I don't want mewmans to be on a higher plane than monsters, or the reverse. I want them to be on even footing." She turned to her boyfriend. "I want _all_ of us to be on even footing."

It wasn't a reference specifically to them, but Marco got the message. He nodded & gently hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"Me too, sweetheart. Me too." Star sighed again. "I don't know, this all just sucks. And knowing that there's a chance it's, like, super personal too, thanks to the whole "they were kicked off the land by Eclipsa" stuff-"

"Oh there's _more_ than a chance." Came a voice at the door leading into the room. It was Janna holding a bunch of paper. She approached the table and placed the papers down gently.

"Janna?"

"Okay first, you'll be happy to know that the whole money thing has been sorted out: the monsters got a new check and all is good."

"Oh, that's great!"

"And there's more. So I did some sleuthing on my own..."

"What exactly does that mean, Janna?" Marco questioned.

"I invoke my 5th amendment right to be silent. Anyway-" She turned back to everyone. "So I did some digging, and it turns out that all of the mewmans that played a part in trying to frame Star's dad for that hunting fiasco...all of them came from families that were removed from the monster land after the new regime change."

And suddenly that seemed to explain a lot. "So it _is_ coordinated revenge..." Eclipsa lamented.

"The nerve of those fools!" River roared.

"But why Star? Why not...you know, my wife?" Globgor asked, turning to said wife. "No offense, honey."

"None taken, dear."

"They're going after me because - hello? - _I'm_ the one that gave her the throne back in the first place?"

"_And_ because they've probably decided that Star was the easiest target." Janna interjected, turning to face Star. "The overwhelming stress, the mental instability, the emotional outbursts, self-harm, heart attacks-"

"Whoa whoa, back up..." Marco interrupted. "That was _one_ minor cardiac episode. That doesn't count!" He was referring to Star's heart scare following the conclusion of the butchered Cornball practice. (**i.e. Episode 15: Double-Laced Butterfly Part 2**)

Janna put a hand on his shoulder. "Your devotion to her is admirable. But that was a heart attack, dude."

"All of this because Star and I wanted to fix the bridges of hate & bigotry that separated the mewmans and the monsters for so long." Eclipsa sighed, receiving a shoulder pat from her loving husband.

* * *

Just outside the door, concealed in a magical invisible ball stood teenage Mariposa, Meteora - who were cloaked with a spell that allowed them to retain their Neverzone appearances - & Cassandra, who had been listening in on the conversation. The part about Eclipsa kicking the mewmans off of what was formerly the monsters' land intrigued them the most. "Is what she said true?" Mariposa asked her dear friend. "About the land?"

Meteora shrugged. "All I remember is I was stuck with some of the royal servants that day when she went out. I don't know."

"I wasn't anywhere near the sight either." Cassandra admitted. "Most of my knowledge of Mewni's long, rich history is from second hand sources, I'm afraid."

"There must be a way to find out for sure." Mariposa caressed the wand with her hand, deep in contemplation. Suddenly an idea crossed her mind. She gripped the wand as tightly as she could and slowly held it up & out.

"...What are you doing?"

"Summon a spell."

"What spell?"

"The All-Seeing Eye."

"Um...that only works on locations. Not time periods."

Mariposa looked back and forth between her friend and the wand. "You sure?" And then resolved to try the spell anyway. "_I summon the All-Seeing Eye to tear a hole into the sky. Reveal to me that which is hidden. Unveil to me what is forbidden._" She held the wand up as it began to glow. A few moments passed before the wand finally fired, unleashing said spell right in front of them. The All-Seeing Eye had been summoned, but this time it was different. Indeed, as Mariposa had hoped for, the hole torn in the fabric of the universe wasn't just of a place - old Mewni - but of a time - specifically, the start of Eclipsa's reign as queen following Meteora's defeat.

"...I'll be damned." Cassandra spoke, she and Meteora gobsmacked. "You did it."

"Shhh, something's happening!" Mariposa loudly whispered; the three of them watched the footage of history before them.

**_[Flashback]_**

**_Out in the land, several groups of mewmans were casually minding their own business. It was another typical day on Mewni. But all of that was about to change. In the distance, a large group of royal knights were marching towards their land. Within that group was Eclipsa, cascading herself in a magical orb of protection. The mewmans were not happy to see her at all. News of her installment as queen had spread quickly, and public opinion of both Eclipsa and Star had collapsed line a Jenga tower. When the knights & Eclipsa arrived, she ceased her orb & pulled out a scroll. "Residents of the land..." She began to sternly address them. "The land you occupy before you once belong to creatures that scour the kingdom. This land was wrongfully stolen from them by the late Queen Solaria The Monster Carver. Today - by royal decree - this land returns to them."_**

**_And predictably, the mewmans reacted with outrage. "You can't do that! We didn't steal anything!" One of them lashed out, causing the knights to point their various weapons at the outspoken one._**

**_"Gentlemen, stand down!" Eclipsa ordered, not wanting to escalate tensions any further. "I understand this is very short notice, but the monsters have waited far too long for justice to be served their way. I will not allow them to wait any longer."_**

**_"So you're punishing up for crap that happened literal centuries ago!?"_**

**_Eclipsa silently cued her knights to ready their weapons. "My subjects...I am asking you to leave voluntarily. But I am not above using force."_**

**_"Then use it, queeny."_**

**_And so she did. She called their bluff, sending the knights after her, though if one expected her to take pride in sicking the royal knights after the people she was supposed to serve, they were mistaken. In fact, she spent the rest of the ordeal sulking. "We always carry the sins of our ancestors around with us...no matter what side you're on..." She said quietly to herself._**

**_[End Flashback]_**

The spell dispersed, leaving the three with their thoughts. "That's crap." Meteora bellowed.

"...I don't think she meant it like _that_." Mariposa tried to reassure her. Meteora's thoughts immediately went to her past life; the torment she went through, the suffering she caused...all of it.

"Then how _did_ she mean it?" Meteora hissed back, trying not to succumb to crying.

"Well...now it makes sense at least...why your people's kind are angry." Cassandra remarked. Meteora scoffed.

"Oh please, they'd be angry at _anything_."

"Yeah but this seems different..." Mariposa interjected. "Very different."

Cassandra nodded, agreeing with the senitment. "They want revenge. If these folks _are_ hellbent on revenge, then your friends & loved ones are in danger. We must protect them."

"How? We can't let them know magic is back. Hell we don't even know to what extent magic is back..."

"I'm still investigating that angle. In the meantime, you girls just keep your eyes and ears open for anything that looks extreme. Remember our code:_ The Fools Grovel At Dusk._"

Both girls looked at each other, then at Cassandra, and they nodded slowly. They had to be prepared for anything and everything now, a task easier said than done.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed by relatively stress-free; once the meeting between the Butterfly family ended everyone went their separate ways; this included Star & Marco, who exited hand-in-hand. "Well today has certainly been...a day." Star awkwardly remarked.

"Yeah, but at least it's over now." Marco added. "I'm just glad the monster thing is back under control."

"Y-Yeah, totally..." Her weak response to his statement drew his concern.

"Everything okay?"

"Ah, just my mind racing about...everything..."

"Wanna talk about it?"

She shrugged. "Not really..." The boy gently squeezed her hand as a show of support, which got her to smile a little. "Marco...those mewmans that have been coming after me and the family...what if they start going after the monsters?" His eyes opened up; for some reason it was a prospsect that he hadn't even considered. "What if they start using them as bait or something o-or they just start lashing out against them for no good reason?"

He heistated before saying anything. "To be honest, I'm...kind of surprised they haven't already." This didn't sit well with Star, which he deduced quickly based on her annoyed glare at him. "I'm not saying I _want_ them to be hurt, just that...with how mad they are, I thought they'd have started sooner or whatever. But what do I know?" Star loudly sighed and squeezed Marco's hand back. "Look, they can try whatever little stunts they want. You and I both know that as long as all of us are around, we won't let anything bad happen to the monsters. We know you've worked too hard to try and fix everything, and we won't let them undermine it. That's a promise."

Even in all of his awkward stumbling, Marco always knew just how to make Star feel better. She kissed his cheek & giggled. "How is it that you always have the right words to say? Even when they're all the wrong words?"

He couldn't help but laugh as they broke out into a big hug. "I don't know. I really don't."

"Come on, let's head back to your place. I wanna play with your baby sister." They took hands again and started walking towards Marco's house. "And then tonight hyou and I can have some real fun."

"You know I always look forward to that."

"And who knows? Maybe tonight there'll be an extra pillow on your bed for you." She purred & winked at him. Yep, she was getting herself in the mood. The boy's eyes darted slowly to her tush; she didn't need to clarify anything for him.

"You're not going to let that go until I do it, are you?"

"Oh don't give me that, Marco. You already squeeze it like a pillow, you pat it like a pillow, you fluff it like a pillow-" She noticed his face getting flustered. "Which I like! So...why don't we just go the next natural step? I'm sure it'll be comfy for you."

He just had to laugh at that. It was peak Star to take their sexual fun & take it up a notch. Not that he minded; as long as she was okay with it, he was too. "You're a lunatic, you know that?"

"Yes, but I'm _your_ lunatic, and you're mine."

"Darn right." They shared a long kiss before departing. "Oh, wait, before we go...I think I should head to City Hall. You know, to get that whole...that whole-"

"That whole statue thing sorted out?" She interrupted him with a warm smile. Marco had to know by now that he couldn't get one over her.

"Y-Yeah, list-"

"Marco..." She interrupted him with a kiss this time. "Is anything set in stone yet?"

"Uh, n-no...we were just...you know, preliminary stuff."

"Then why don't you sleep on it tonight?"

He had to tilt his head at her slightly. Was he hearing her correctly? "Are you saying you _want_ a statue of yourself now?"

"I didn't say that. It's just...ugh, I'm so sick of being the reason you don't do things. You're trying to do right by me every single day and yet you feel like you can't because of the demons in my head. So how about we just sit down and talk about it tonight, and then you can decide tomorrow what you want to do? Does that sound okay?"

It was obvious Star still wasn't comfortable with the idea of having a statute in her liking made. But she was also tired of feeling like he was hindering him in his quest to make her happy. So many conflicting emotions, but the hope was that a talk that night would help clear the air. "Alright, that sounds fair."

"Good. Now just one more thing..." She leaned in slowly, as if she was going to kiss again. He readied himself for a kiss...only to feel himself being pushed slightly by her and feel her taking off. "TAG YOU'RE IT DIAZ!" Star Butterfly: a mature adult, but always a child at heart.

"You're gonna pay for that, Butterfly!" He lovingly yelled as he started to chase after her, the both of them laughing.

* * *

In another part of town, having dispersed the teens for the day, Cassandra found herself walking alone back towards her office. For her, her work continued relentlessly. But little did she know she wasn't actually alone. She passed by a set of bushes on her way, and in one of them popped out a scrawny head and a set of beady eyes and a long nose. A royal outfit torn & damaged, dirtied up from months spent on the outside. The beady eyes followed Cassandra as she passed by & kept on walking, a clout of suspicion racing through the air. This wasn't just any ordinary stalker. It was the last remnance of Mina Loveberry's wrath before her demise, the last droplet of the old regime of hate & bigotry. The only person that saw fit to actually depart with Mina after the magic was destroyed before being separated from her due to her own obsession & decompartmentalization.

The stuffy, uptight servant.

The obnoxious know-it-all.

Arguably the biggest monster-hater in Mewni.

One name sends looks of disinterest & eye rolls down the line.

_**Manfred.**_

* * *

**End of Episode 24!**

**I don't know, I feel like this chapter was a bit all over the place. Writer's block does that you, doesn't it? But I still hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Although sadly I think this slowly update pace I'm on the past few chapters is going to be the norm for a while. Selling of the house is finally picking up steam so most of my attention has to go to that. But I'm not quitting this by a long shot :)  
**

**As always, please read & review! :D**


	25. Mechanical Mockery

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 25: Mechanical Mockery**

**Episode Summary: Star becomes overwhelmed with nostalgia & decides to go on a dimension-traveling adventure with her friends, like old times! **

**Original Release Date: August 15, 2020**

* * *

A little more than a week passed since the Monster Temple incident. Summer vacation was wrapping up, which meant all the kids & teens out of school would soon be returning to school. This meant all of Star & Marco's friends...but not Star & Marco themselves. Marco wasn't going back to school because he had already acquired his high school equivalent diploma while on Mewni, and Star wasn't going back to school because...because Earth high school was never meant to be a permanent fixture of Star's life. Plus, given the circumstances of how she left Earth abruptly and missed an entire school year's worth of work...it just didn't make sense, at least in the eyes of her family. But that was still being sorted out by them.

In the meantime, Star & Marco hung out on Marco's bed, resting comfortably with each other & Mariposa in between them. Star's boredom & irritability were paramount; Marco couldn't possibly ignore it. "You doing okay?"

She groaned, but a playful groan nonetheless. "I think I finally know what it's like to be a real teenager." Was her response.

"By that you mean...?'

"I mean that I'm bummed that summer's almost over." She nuzzled herself ever closer to her hubby-to-be. "Feels like it went by so far _and_ dragged on so long at the same time. How does that happen?!"

Marco mustered the best shrug he could underneath the weight of his resting wife-to-be. "That's just the beauty of being a teenager, I guess."

"You know what the suckiest part of this all is?" She lamented. "All of our friends are going back to school and we're not and we won't be able to see them most of the time. They'll be busy with school work or something. We won't get to hang out as much anymore."

"Hey..." He sat up & met her lips, gently pecking them. "We still have some time before they have to go back to school. There's still time to hang out with them."

"That's true, I guess." She sat up as well, holding Mariposa in her hands. "Okay, we _totally_ have to have another sleepover with them at some point."

"Uhhhh..." That gave Marco some pause. Sure, magic was gone - as far as they knew - but the memory of the Box of Truth and the trouble it caused them all. "You sure?"

She playfully glared at him. "Dude, come on. No magic, no Box of Truth, which means no magic weirdness to make things uncomfortable for all of us." Her logic was quite sound. "It'll just be a regular old sleepover."

"I guess you're right..."

"_Plus_..." She continued in a sing-song tone. "You'll get to see Jackie in her sleepwear again..." She winked; Star always had a blast teasing her boyfriend about his lingering sexual attraction to his former girlfriend, just as he did her.

"That _is_ a big plus..."

"And it's just nice to have all of our friends with us, having a sleepover or...or..." Her mind started to drift, reminiscing on parts of her past; specifically, she reminisced about all of the interdimensional adventures she had with Marco.

"What?"

It was then, without prompt, that Star stood up off the couch, still holding a now-giggling Mariposa in her hands. "You know, it _just_ occurred to me. Our friends never really joined us on too many magical adventures. Well, I guess Janna did, but those weren't really "adventures," those were menial tasks that I _had_ to get done because the fate of my kingdom rested on my shoulders or some garbage."

"You're nostalgic for the old days?"

"Only for the days where we could go on insane adventures together and the only thing at stake was some stupid sandwich or something."

"Well, we still have that thing Tom's folks gave us that lets us dimension hop again." He got up & went over to his closet, pulling something out. Instead of it being the portal ray-gun device they had been using all this time, it was what appeared to be a mechanical knife, with buttons on its handle & a bronze blade. Yep, the dimension-traveling device had gotten an improvement. "And look..._upgraded_."

"It looks so _coooool_..." She gently took the blade and examined it herself.

"So any ideas?"

"Huh?"

"You know...for our adventure. Where do you want to go, what do you want to do, etcetera." A good question indeed...

* * *

Fortunately it didn't take Star very long to come up with an idea. Once she did, she found all of her friends - plus Kelly from her dimension - and gathered them into her room. "...Robots?" Janna raised an eyebrow as she patiently waited for Star to explain what the deal was.

"Okay so there's this dimension in the multiverse that's completely inhabited by technology. Sentient robots, machines, the works. Advanced technology is the staple of their world. No human life whatsoever..."

"Wait if there's no human life who the heck built all the robots? Who made the world like that?"

Star shrugged. "It's a mystery. I've actually never visited that dimension, but I've _always_ wanted to. How could I not? Sentient robots? Sounds like the adventure of a lifetime!"

"This is what I get for not objecting to that robot apocalypse movie you had us watch for movie night..." Marco lamented quietly, though just loud enough for Star to hear.

"Hey it was _my_ turn to pick, Diaz."

"So, what? Like, we just gonna drop whatevers we doin' just to go play with some fancy metal arms or whatever?" Pony Head scoffed with an obvious eye roll.

"Oh silly Lilacia...you really think I'd have called you all over here just to play with some silly arms?"

"Actually that's completely on brand for you." Tom interjected with a rather smug smile on his face. It took all of Janna's willpower to not start laughing maniacally at that remark. Star was not impressed.

"Thank you, Mr. Lucitor. That was very kind of you." But her annoyed glare evaporated almost instantly. "No, so there's this thing in that dimension..." She pulled out her giant "Atlas of the Multiverse" book, opening it up to the page talking about the Mechanical Dimension, the dimension in question. "It's called the "Hyper Cube." According to the book, the Hyper Cube can do _anything_..."

"Really? Anything?" Marco skeptically asked.

"That's what the book says. _Anything_."

Janna gasped, a light bulb going off in her head. "I could finally have my army of Ocrams!" Which caused everyone to cock their heads in confusion in Janna's direction.

"Ocrams?" Tom asked.

"Evil Marcos." And Marco was less than happy to fill them in.

"Mole on the wrong side and everything." Janna was rather enjoying her sudden fantasy of evil Marcos.

"Okay, but like...why though?" Kelly had to ask.

"_Because she could_." Both Marco _and_ Janna answered simultaneously, spurring an unimpressed glare from her towards the boy.

"Think about this..." Star intervened to get the conversation back on track. "The Hyper Cube is so powerful and so technologically advanced that it could actually make _other_ Hyper Cubes...you know, so we'd _each_ have one." Now that seemed to get their attention, as they gradually built up to excited exclamations. "Right!? So, you want in?"

"Yo girl why didn't you lead off with that?!" Pony Head exclaimed excitedly. "What are we waiting for? Let's _goooo_, fools!"

Star used her new mechanical knife-thing to tear a hole in the fabric of reality, creating a portal to said Mechanical Dimension. "That's what I like to hear! Let's go!"

* * *

They all stepped through the portal and found themselves in what appeared to be a futuristic, machine-centric world. Every surface was covered in chrome, sentient robots with blinking lights were everywhere, and smog covered the sky. "Blech, this world looks, like, totally gross & whatever!" Pony Head exclaimed. "I demand to speak to the manager of this place!"

"Didn't Star just say there was no hu-" Any attempt by Kelly to talk some sense into Pony Head was quelled by Star herself. She was Pony Head's best friend, so she was best equipped to know when it was a lost cause to talk some sense into her. "So where's this "Hyper Cube" you talked about?"

Star playfully scoffed. "If it were _that_ easy to find wouldn't somebody have found it by now?"

"Must you have a snarky response?"

"I'm me. It would be weird if I didn't."

As the group prepared themselves to mobilize, one of the far away sentient robots stopped what it was doing - scanning nearby trash cans for...some reason - and approached them...by zooming towards them & scaring the pants off of them. "**[HALT!]**" The robot bellowed in its synthetic, robotic voice. "**[OUR RECORDS INDICATE YOU HAVE COME FROM OUTSIDE THE MULTIVERSE. STATE YOUR BUSINESS IN OUR DIMENSION PROMPTLY.]**"

For the slightest second, none of them knew how they could possibly respond. All they had was this giant, cold, metallic robot figure with scanners in the place where its eyes should be staring them down like it was about to roast them. For having dealt with magic for so long, Star and her friends were unequipped to deal with advanced apocalyptic technology. "Um...hello...shiny friend..." Star said with an incredible amount of hesitation.

The machine responded by opening itself up to become an array of giant cannons all pointed at the group. "**[INVALID RESPONSE. INVALID RESPONSE. PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED. IN 10...9...8...6...]**"

"And that's our cue to run." And so they did, embarking on an escape just as the robot was about to fire its cannons. Bounds of flames came soaring from the cannons, scorching the grounds below where the kids just were. The machine then took it upon itself to go out and search for them, looking for another opportunity to blitzkrieg them. It scanned the area around but couldn't find them anywhere. Despite the fact that the teens were hiding - and poorly - behind some jagged rocks, the robot completely passed them. This was because the robots there were not actually programmed to detect non-robotic life on their turf.

"Huh, I didn't think we'd get away so easily..." Star remarked. Marco chose to focus on something less important.

"Am I the only one that noticed it skipped '7' when it was counting?"

Janna gave such a dramatic eye roll that it made Marco smirk. "No, but you are the only one that thought _that_ was worth your time."

"How in the name of corn are we going to get past that thing?" Tom quietly shouted, eyeing the robot's every move.

"We gotta distract it and move somehow." Star commented, the gears turning quickly in her head. "We still don't even know where the heck this dang Hypercube is."

"Maybe we can get them to take it to us somehow?" Kelly suggested. "If it's, you know, this world's most valuable artifact or whatever, wouldn't it make sense that they would want to check in on their prized possession? You know, just to make sure it hasn't been stolen or whatever?"

"Oh, I see...so you're saying we should let ourselves get captured by that thing so that it'll take us to whatever main base exists in this world because that's obviously where they're keeping the Hypercube?"

For a second, the look on Kelly's face would make one think her brain literally broke in half as a result of Star's statement. "How did you get to that from _anything_ I just said?"

"It's Star, why are you questioning it?" Janna responded, rubbing her temples. "Just go with it."

"So like if we're gonna get ourselves captured, let me take the wheel." Pony Head exclaimed. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's sacrificing myself for the greater good! You know, like, when I took the fall so that you and your boy toy could escape from those copper people hunting you." She was referring to the events of her visit to Earth shortly after Star got banished from Mewni...and remembering them incorrectly.

"_You _were the one being hunted by them in the first place!" Marco rightly pointed out. "It wasn't a noble sacrifice!" He turned to his girlfriend, frustrated. "Tell her."

But Star reluctantly shook her head. "It's like talking to a brick wall, Marco. You know that."

"Hey, girl, I'm like, _right here_, you know!" Pony Head scoffed before readying herself. "Okay, so I'm gonna get that robot's attention and we gonna surrender to its awesomeness, and it's gonna, like, carry us unharmed away to whatever prison or whatever that they have, and then we'll break out and we'll find this silly Hyp-"

* * *

"What happened to imprisoning us unharmed, fool!?"

Unfortunately for everyone, Pony Head miscalculated. Yes, the robot did swarm them once they decided to put their...well, it wasn't really a "plan" so much as a 4-point shot on a basketball court...into action. And yes, they were captured & brought them back to what appeared to be a top secret lab. But the "unharmed" part did not pan out. No, there was pain & suffering, and plenty of both. The one robot called for other backup robots to assist it, and the lot of them unleashed absolutely hell on the teens, causing them injuries & disarming them before taking them back to the lab & shackling them up against a wall...and doing so rather poorly. No two teens shared the same shackled position, and Jackie was even shackled haphazardly, with only one leg shackled to a wall, allowing the rest of her body to dangle.

And then there was Pony Head. For reasons known only to extra terrestrials, the robots decided to put Pony Head in a cage dangling just above a boiling hot cauldreon. Sadistic much?

"Why did we agree to let ourselves get captured again?" Janna lamented, clearly unamused. Even Star had to admit that whatever "plan" Pony Head had in her...erm, "head" clearly did not work out.

"To find that Hypercube thing?" Star sighed. "But I don't see it anywhere."

"Me neither..." Jackie also piped up, the blood starting to rush to her dangling head. "All I see is that orb thing sitting over there on that pedestal..." Jackie pointed out into the distance; there was a lone pedestal standing up with a little black orb sitting on top of it. The uncertainty of the object's indentity, however, was not left up in the air for long. Two sentient robots came out of the shadows & approached the pedestal.

"**[The prisoners have arrived.]**" One of them said. "**[We must rid this world of their presence.]**"

"**[Stay behind.]**" The other one bellowed, turning to its fellow robot. "**[Protect the Hypercube at all costs.]**"

Yes, that black orb thing sitting on the pedestal? The Orb? It was the Hypercube. The book did not actually have a depiction of what the Hypercube might look like, so this revalation took everyone by surprise. "_That's_ the Hypercube?"

The robot turned to the teens. "**[Behold, you pathetic blood monkeys: the Hypercube. It is our world's greatest invention.]**"

"So that's the thing that can supposedly do _anything?_" Tom questioned. "It's not even a cube, for one..."

"**[Behold the mighty power of the Hypercube.]**" The robot picked up the...um, "device" and held it up. "**[Almighty Hypercube...enlighten us. Will the intruders be vanquished painfully?]**" The robot then proceeded to shake the "device" and turn it around to its flat side, studying it for a brief moment before turning the flat edge to the teens; inside the flat edge were words that spelled out the message "Try asking again." "**[The device is uncertain. We must ask again momentarily.]**"

Yup, in case it wasn't obvious by now, the "Hypercube" was actually just an ordinary 8 Ball. For reasons known only to forces beyond the ordinary human's control, the most technologically advanced dimension in the multiverse deemed an ordinary Magic 8 Ball their most powerful device. "What the..."

"_**IT'S A MOTHERFRICKING MAGIC 8 BALL ARE YOU MOTHERFRICKING KIDDING ME!?**_" Janna was not at all pleased. In fact it looked like she was going to blow a gasket over this revelation. Star, still not completely versed in Earth culture, had her face light up in a rather negative way.

"Magic!? Oh no no no no _nooooo_ thank you-"

"Not _that _kind of magic, Star." Marco said deadpanned. "Think the banagic wand."

"Ohhhhh, okay...fake magic..." And again for reasons unknown to regular people, this disappointed Star.

"It's official: there are no life forms in the multiverse worth saving." Janna was at her wit's end over these latest developments. The robot that was approaching them increased its speed, dashing up to them. If it were a human, it would be mad.

"**[How dare you, blood monkeys, insult the power of our greatest creation!]**"

"I'm betting five bucks right now that your kind didn't even build that thing?"

"**[Allow us to disprove that henceforth.]**" The robot turned to the other one, who lifted the 8 Ball once more.

"**[Mighty Hypercube...are the robot overlords of this futile world responsible for your creation?]**" A good shake of the ball and a look at the answer it gave. "**[...The color of the day is four.]**" And being a robot, it had the distinct ability to deliver that line completely deadpanned without an ounce of self-awareness.

"Oh, so not only is it falsely advertised, it's also defective!" Janna was even more frustrated now.

"Oh come on, Janna, don't be like that..." Star pleaded. "Defective toys are the most fun!" She turned to her boyfriend. "Right, Marco?"

...who proceeded to take it in the worst possible way. "Are you saying I'm defective?"

Poor Star, still struggling with her choice of words. "Nooooo no no no no that wasn't what I meant! No not like _that_!"

This, apparently, was enough to break Janna out of her bad mood, as she started cackling hysterically at the exchange. "Okay...okay _that_ alone made this entire trip worth it. You guys are a riot, I swear."

"I just want to go on the record and, like, say that y'alls are dumb-dumbs and I'm never doing anything like this again with any of you." Pony Head said flatly. She, too, was mostly annoyed at the events unfolding. "No offense, B-Fly."

"Oh no. This is terrible. Whatever will we do without Pony Head tagging along." Marco's response was about as dry as one could make it, and the irony was not lost on the sentient horse head.

"**[Enough insolence!]**" One of the robots bellowed. "**[Now we must decide what to do with you blood monkeys.]**"

"Why do you keep calling us "blood monkeys?" Kelly asked; a good question indeed. "I don't even have a tail."

"**[How shall we dispose of you meddling monkeys?]**"

Jackie unconsciously scoffed. "Why don't you ask your silly "Hypercube?"

The two robots in the room slowly turned their robotic heads to one another. "**[...Ask?]**"

It was meant to be a sarcastic remark, but seeing the robots give serious contemplation to that idea made the wheels in Jackie's head start to turn. "Oh yeah, I'm sure that all-knowing cube-thing can help you decide what to do with us lowly humans."

"Um...two of us are decidedly _not_ human." Kelly pointed out.

"Three, actually." Tom corrected. The brief silence that followed made Janna turn her head towards him; as it turned out she misinterpreted his statement.

"Okay, _wow, _dude, just wow. Way to diss me like that. Thought you actually had a thing for me but whatever I guess I-" It took Janna 15 seconds - 14 too long - to realize the third person he was referring to was Pony Head. "OH shoot my bad dude. I forgot she was even here, sorry..."

"_**OH SCREW ALL OF YOU, FOOLS!"**_

The robot looked at the 8 Ball, and then at Jackie. "Go ahead. What does your Hypercube thing say?" She taunted it again; this time it complied and looked down at the 8 Ball.

"**[Almighty Hypercube, what fate should we bestow on our outside prisoners?]**" The robot shook the 8 Ball and then waited for a response. Said response was... "**[Do not drink milk after its listed expiration date.]**"

Every second of this ordeal only left the teens more baffled. "N-No, that won't work. Try it again. Go on." Jackie was enjoying goading them. "Give it a good shake."

"_D'aww, why did she have to say "good shake?_" Star lamented quietly, her face turning a massively dark shade of red.

"Remember your breathing, Star..." Marco tried to keep her calm.

"**[Almighty Hypercube, what fate shall we bestow on our puny prisoners!?]**" This time the robot gave the 8 Ball an extremely violent shake. So violent, in fact, that it ended up shattered the 8 Ball, with the little die stored in in the ball falling out & hitting the ground. The robot that was closer to the teens turned & went over to the one holding the 8 Ball. The two of them stared at the die on the ground for a moment, making no noises or saying anything. This granted Jackie just enough time to play around with her shackle, freeing herself and then Kelly, allowing the two of them to free the others...all before the robots even detected what was happening. Once the rest of them were freed, they managed to free Pony Head from her cage before landing in front of the robots for a confrontation. "**[Inconceivable. Their shackles have been breached.]**"

"Sorry about your cube thing." Jackie bragged. "But I guess it wasn't as impressive as you thought it was."

Upon hearing this, one of the robots held up one of its arms towards her, an arm that quickly morphed into a laser cannon. "**[Retract your statement, blood monkey! The Hypercube is this world's most valuable possession. It is a gateway to a greater world! A symbol of triumph!]**"

"Wait, I thought they considered it a "technological advancement." Kelly pointed out. "Now they consider it a religious icon?"

"Welcome to the wonderful world of gaslighting." Janna said in such a deadpanned tone.

"Why do you always assume it's on purpose? Can't people just be stupid for the sake of being stupid?" Marco asked the frustrated girl.

"Who would program a robot to be stupid!? What purpose does that serve!?"

In the midst of their mini tussle, they failed to notice that the two robots in the room used their sensors to summon an extremely large army of robots to confront them with. "**[For tampering with the symbol of our triumph...]**"

"_Oh my god **enough** with the religious allegory!"_ Janna muttered angrily.

"**[You shall pay the ultimate price!]**"

"You want us to pay? We'll show you "pay!" Pony Head's attempt at a threat was...less than successful. "Earth Turd, give them, like, monies or whatever."

"Not what they meant, Pony." Star monotonously replied, face-palming herself.

Finally, the robots made the choice to just start firing their cannons & weapons at the group, forcing them to go on the defense. Despite the onslaught of lasers and objects being thrown at them at ridiculous speeds, the group managed to come out of the first wave of firing mostly unscathed, with the exception of a few bruises from all the running & jumping they had to do. They decided that there was no way they would be able to actually fight the entire group of robots and make it out alive, so they decided that their best option was to just go back to Earthni.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand." Star said; while the robots all took a moment to reload their weaponry, Star reached into her pocket in an attempt to pull out the dimension-portaling knife they used to arrive in the Mechanical Dimension. Unfortunately, they ran into a hiccup. "Oh no..."

"What? What's wrong?" Tom asked.

"I-I-I don't have it."

"What!? What happened?"

"Dangit, I think they snatched it from me when they gave us that patdown before they shackled us." Star shuddered; prior to them being chained up & taken as prisoners, the sentient robots saw fit to shake the teens down and consifcate anything they deemed a weapon that could be used against them; the dimension-portaling knife was seen as a weapon & confisgated. "That was _not_ a pretty ordeal." And apparently the patdown wasn't particularly pleasant.

"Oh come on, Star, I'm sure Marco's done way worse to you and you never complained with him." Apparently Tom decided now was the right time for his brain to stop working. Star was not amused.

"Um...yeah, he _has. _But there's a difference, _Tom._ Marco's my _**BOYFRIEND**_! What the heck, dude?!" The depths of Tom's naivity continued to blow Star & Marco away. Even Tom couldn't help but kick himself after he took a moment to replay in his mind exactly what he said.

"Dude, okay, so we, like, like you and all, but like, seriously..._wow_." Even Pony Head wouldn't let Tom live it down.

"Can we worry about this later? I'd like to go home." Kelly got the teens back on track. "Where the heck could they have put that thing anyway?"

"I'll give you one guess." Marco pointed deep into the distance, pointing out that there was yet another pedestal, this one holding up the knife upright. "Not even anyone or anything guarding it, it's just...sitting right there."

"I'm starting to remember when I never visited this dimension before." Star lamented.

"Yup, these guys haven't learned a thing..." Was Tom's comment, which piqued Star's interest.

"What does that mean? 'They haven't learned a thing?' Tom, h-have you been here before?"

"Um...yeah. On the trip. You know, the one _we_ were supposed to go on. I didn't tell you about that?"

A brief moment of silence as the wheels in Star's head began turning...albeit a bit slower than in Jackie's head. "Actually, _no_, you didn't. You never told me anything. Remember? You broke up with me before you ever said anything about your trip."

He appeared flustered. "...I didn't? Huh, coulda sworn I...oh that's right, I told Janna!"

"He talked my ear off all about it while you and lover boy were on your little trip." Janna explained. "When he gets into it, he really knows how to hold a conversation."

Star couldn't help but tilt her head slightly at this revelation. "Really? Well, that would've been nice to know when we were dating, don't you think?"

He shrugged. "I agree." It wasn't intended to be a snipe at Star, but that didn't stop the girl from feeling a tad offended by the remark. But her annoyance was sidelined by Kelly, who took notice of the non-moving robots.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" Kelly asked, pointing out that the entire army of robots that had been summoned were not actually doing anything. They were merely standing in place, weapons at the ready. "They could've easily assimilated all of us by now but they're not. They're just...standing there."

"Oh great, another society of life forms that can't do the most basic of functions without its precious main object of power." Janna said coldly. "I wish this storytelling trope would just die already?"

"_Can we, like, get the heck outta here already!?_" Pony Head roared. "This place is making me uncomfortable and junk!"

Everyone seemed to agree, so they set off to retrieve the dimension-portaling knife from its pedestal...all while the robots _still_ chose not to do a single thing to stop them. It was almost like they had become complete statues. But the teens decided they weren't interested in dwelling on this development. They were ready to go home, so Star wasted no time in cutting another portal - this one back to Earthni - and leading everyone into it to return home.

* * *

And home they returned to, as they all stepped through the portal & set foot on Earthni soil again. Or at least the floor of Star's bedroom. "I'm sorry, guys..." Star sighed loudly. "That didn't exactly pan out the way I thought it would."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up for that." Tom reassured her.

"Yeah, it was still a lot of fun!" Kelly joined in the reassuring. "It's been _forever_ since I went dimension hopping."

"Now I totally get why you guys used to get a kick out of doing that." Jackie said triumphantly, having had a great time herself. "I wish I had gotten to join you guys on a few of these back in the day!"

Hearing Jackie lavish joy over the adventure got both Marco _and_ Star to blush. "W-Well, we're happy to have you along!" Marco awkwardly blurted out, though Jackie lovingly laughed it off.

"Yeah so that was, like, fun I guess, but I gotta bail." Pony Head said bluntly. "I've had enough inter-travel-whatever shenanigans for one day." She hastily turned and started to float towards the door. Not long after, Janna & Tom followed suit. As did Kelly, with Star opening up a portal back to her world & helping her through it. That left Marco, Star, and Jackie in the room alone.

"Seriously, guys, that was so much fun." Jackie cheered again, putting one arm around each of them. "Must've felt like old times for you two, huh?"

The two lovebirds chuckled awkwardly as their blush grew stronger. "Y-Yeah, it does." Marco finally spoke. "But it was a lot better with you in the mix. W-We're just really happy to hang out with you."

She could see right through their weak cover up efforts, but she was still flattered nonetheless. "Aww, I love hanging out with you guys too. We totally should do it more often." It was then that a lightbulb went off in Jackie's head. "Oh, hey, we should have a sleepover!"

Star & Marco exchanged looks, as their minds suddenly went to earlier that day when they were discussing the possibility of another sleepover with their friends. "Oh, t-that sounds like a great idea! Heh, wish you had spoken up before the others high-tailed it outta he-"

"How about just the three of us. You, me, and Marco?" The three of them? Alone in a sleepover? Was anyone sure Jackie knew what she was doing?

"Y-Yeah?"

"Absolutely! It'll be so much fun! Let me use tonight to get everything ready. You and Marco come by tomorrow night and we'll have ourselves an awesome night of fun! Sound good?" Star & Marco rapidly nodded, their blush again growing stronger. "Awesome!" And she hugged the two of them again causing even more blushing. "See you guys there! I can't wait!" Without another word, Jackie turned & raced out of Star's room, excited for the event in question while leaving the two love birds to their own thoughts. For the longest time, neither of them could muster up anything to squeak out of their mouths.

"So..." Star _finally_ said after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "We got a sleepover tomorrow. W-With Jackie Lynn Thomas."

"Yeah..." And poor Marco could barely muster up anything coherent. "Jackie Lynn Thomas..."

"The hottest, sexiest girl in the neighborhood..."

"By a country mile..."

Star slowly turned her head to Marco; the boy followed suit. "...should be fun though."

"Oh yeah, definitely!" They finished off the bit of awkward dialogue with an uncomfortable laugh between them. It did seem like a difficult proposition.

The good: a night alone with Jackie Lynn Thomas.

The bad: a night alone with Jackie Lynn Thomas.

* * *

**End of Episode 25!**

**So a couple of things: first off, yes this chapter is shorter than past chapters. I realized the reason why Chapter 24 felt all over the place was because I fell into one of my old bad habits in trying to hit an arbitrary word count as opposed to just letting a story have an end point even if it's shorter. Hopefully this one feels more cohesive.**

**Secondly, yes the next episode is going to be a sleepover episode between Marco, Star, and Jackie. Which I'm looking forward to writing.**

**And this brings me to a bit of an awkward A/N that I need to spill out. So as most of you likely know, prior to completing "Unforgettable Getaway" and beginning "The Ballad of Earth-Mewni" I wrote a Christmas fic that was intended to be part of this canon called "Beautiful Christmas," which chronologically takes place approximately six months after the start of Ballad. Now, I am very proud of that story and I had a great time writing it, but it unintentionally put me into a box. **

**I feel like my story and characters are evolving in a way that could threaten the integrity of my timeline. I guess that's what I get for writing a story before filling in the in-betweens XD In any case, my point is I'm debating how I want to handle this. One of the options I'm considering is to "retcon" that story. But when I say that I don't mean "this story didn't happen at all." Rather I might just alter the writing of it in a way to fit more naturally in the timeline, and then ultimately add it into "Ballad" to make it more seamless, as opposed to having it just exist as a separate story.**

**Ultimately it is _my_ work and I have the final say in how it turns out, but I am interested in feedback in hearing what my readers think of this dilemma. I'm not looking for anything to take as gospel or whatever, I just think a second opinion would be helpful.**

**And of course, as always, please remember to read & review! :)**


	26. All Night at Jackie's!

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 26: All Night at Jackie's!**

**Episode Summary: Jackie invites Star & Marco over for a sleepover, setting the stage for a night of hilariously bad jokes, fun games...and awkward late night talks.**

**Original Release Date: August 24, 2020**

* * *

It seemed like the 24 hours between the time Jackie invited the two of them to her house for a sleepover and the time they were actually going to her house for a sleepover took **ages** to pass by, but finally, the following night came, and Star & Marco were geared up for a night of fun with their friend. They got dressed up in the sleepwear - in Star's case she chose to wear her "Bubble Butt" t-shirt instead of her normal black thermal shirt - and packed with them blankets & pillows, snacks, games - even extra protection _just in case_ \- all in the name of having a fun time with Jackie. Or at least that's what they were hoping for. Naturally, considering the circumstances - i.e. Marco's lingering attraction to his ex and Star's rapidly escalating physical attraction to her - they were both nervous.

"How ya feeling?" Marco asked his girlfriend as they made their way to Jackie's house, hand-in-hand. He was always there for his best friend, no matter the circumstances.

"...everything." She said hesitantly. The boy grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it, getting a smile out of her.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's Jackie, our _friend_."

"Yeah yeah I know, you don't have to remind me..." She couldn't help but look away as her face grew bright red & she yawned. Of course it wasn't a night _intended_ for any monumental revelation or change in status quo. It was merely meant to be a fun night of leisure with a friend they both really wanted to spend more time with. But that didn't mean those undertones weren't there.

"It's going to all be okay, hon. We're just going for a night of fun and silliness."

"Well, yeah that's what it's going to _start_ as, but we don't know how things'll play out, do we? I mean, what if I can't control myself and I just spend the entire night staring at her butt, o-or _you_ spend the whole night staring at her butt, o-"

He took her hand & kissed it gently. "No matter what happens, we'll get through it. We're all friends here. It'll be _fine_." Now it was his turn to yawn. Still, even at their worst he was still incredibly gentle & considerate with her. The ultimate gentleman, and just one of many things about him that Star fell for. They finally approached Jackie's house, edging closer so they could knock. But just before Marco got the chance to do so, the door to Jackie's house opened. Jackie & Chloe stepped outside; Jackie was already in her sleepwear while Chloe appeared dressed for a night out carrying a duffel bag.

"She's meeting you at the bowling alley and then you guys are going for a movie." Jackie told Chloe.

"And then perhaps back to her house for some bonus excitement." Chloe uttered with a wink towards Jackie. The two chuckled & shared a kiss before parting; Chloe turned to Star & Marco. "Bonjour!"

"Oh! H-Hi Chloe!" Star casually & clumsily waved to Chloe, blushing slightly. "What's going on? You...leaving or something?"

"She's got a date tonight." Jackie said with a sly smile on her face as she winked towards Chloe. "One of the girls from the cheer squad. Sabrina I think..."

"I barely remember anyone from school..." Star lamented before returning her focus to what was just said. "W-Wait, "date?" As in... _date_ date?"

"Yup!" She turned to Chloe as she started heading off.

"Enjoy your sleepover!" Chloe called out to the three.

"Go get 'em, tiger!" She blew one more kiss to Chloe as she watched her girlfriend go off before turning back to the two lovebirds. "I'm so glad you guys could make it tonight!" Jackie had a huge smile on her face; she was sincerely thrilled to see them.

"Y-You kidding? We wouldn't miss this for the world." Marco answered, with him & Star giving nervous chuckles & fighting an oncoming blush. "Y-You look good tonight!" He awkwardly blurted out before covering his mouth with his free hand. Jackie could only chuckle & smile. She couldn't be upset at these two dorks if she tried.

"D'aww, thanks, Marco. You two ain't lookin' half bad yourselves." And it was now Jackie's turn to lightly blush. "Come on inside, I'll show you where the fun's waiting tonight." She led them into her house and into one of the rooms, one that wasn't decidedly her bedroom. She opened the door, revealing what was essentially a game room. It was large, roomy, and filled to the brim with potential game setups, snacks, game systems, televisions, etcetera. There was also a large air mattress up against one of the walls that appeared large enough to fit up to three people on it. It looked like it took lots of planning to set it all up. "Behold!"

Star & Marco had their jaws nearly on the ground at the sight. It was remarkable. "Holy cornballs..." Star droned, her eyes fixated on everything. "Have we died and gone to heaven?".

Jackie gave off a chuckle before she broke out into a yawn. "It's like a sleepover's paradise, isn't it?"

The yawn caught Marco a bit off guard. "You okay?"

"Oh totally, yeah..." She responded while rubbing her eyes, slightly slurring before recovering. "After I invited you guys I came home & got to work prepping this room. It's our game room but my folks said I could use it for the sleepover. They're out of town for a few days on business so we don't have to worry about intrusion or whatever. I was so excited to get things ready that by the time I came out of my adrenaline rush the sun was coming up."

"The sun was co-you were up all night!?" Star exclaimed, dumbfounded at the revelation.

"Yup!" She yawned again. "I haven't slept in, like, 36 hours, but I was so excited for tonight I just couldn't. We're gonna have a blast all night long!"

The two lovebirds nodded, eager to share in her excitement. But that was easier said than done. Little did Jackie know that she was not the only one to have pulled an all-nighter. The previous night, Star & Marco were so nervous about the impending sleepover that they couldn't catch a single wink of sleep themselves. Literally all three of them were running on no sleep. It was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. "Y-Yeah, totally! W-We couldn't sleep either, we were so excited for tonight."

"Well what are we standing around here for? Let's get crackin'!" The ever-unraveling thought of the three of them running on a sleep deficit unnerved them, but they decided to put it to the side for the time being & just enjoy the night together.

* * *

The first activity on the docket for them...a game of cup pong. Not like that, of course, but it immediately set off a red flag for Marco before he actually knew what was going on. There were three sets of cups arranged into a triangle form; one set for one side of the table, covering three of the four sides. "It's called cup pong. So what do you do is you bounce once of these balls on the table..." She took one of the ping pong balls and bounced it, managing to sink one into one of Marco's cups. "If it lands in a cup, that person has to drink it."

"Doesn't that hurt, though?" Star asked, misunderstanding Jackie's explanation while Marco took the cup with the ball in it.

"Not the ball, Star. Just the drink that's in the cup." He lifted his cup and stared down the liquids inside for a moment. He was clearly apprehensive. "Uh...you sure about this Jackie?"

She raised an eyebrow & blinked twice in silence. "What?"

"We're...you know..._underage._"

She had to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes and her ears to make sure she heard him right. It was not at all what Marco was thinking. "...You're kidding, right?"

"N-No, I'm not kidding. I-I have a strong moral objection to this." He begrudgingly took a sip out of the cup. "I wasn't mentally prepared for any of these kinds of..." And that's when it finally sank in. "Oh, it's Apple Cider."

Jackie was not at all impressed. How could Marco think that Jackie - _JACKIE - _of all people would serve alcoholic beverages to them. They were only 15 (16 in Marco's case). It was mind-numbing to her, and Star picked up on Jackie's frustrations.

"Hey, Marco, could I see that cup for a sec?" She asked sweetly. He turned it over to her obliviously, and he paid the price for it when she casually dumped the remainder of the cider in the cup on Marco's head.

"D'ahhhh! What the heck, Star!?" He exclaimed rather annoyed. She could only giggle, which in turn got Jackie to giggle at Star's giggle.

"Classic safe kid."

"Oh come on, I-I had to be sure! I've seen way too many movies about this sort of thing."

"Did any of them feature a super hot skater girl with curves that draw the eyes of both guys and girls?" Only forces known to the extra terrestrial could answer why Star blurted out that exact sentence the way she did. But she did, and unfortunately it took a moment for her to catch herself. Jackie could only giggle as she & Star blushed. They all chalked it up to the nerves & sleep deprivation.

"Aww, why thank you, Star, that's so nice."

Behind her massive blush crossed a smile onto Star's face. At least for the time being, they were taking things in stride...

* * *

As the game continued, they all decided to share conversations about their own personal adventures, either pre-Cleave or post-Cleave, just to pass the time. "So I had a little scare at the orphanage," Star was retelling a story about a work shift at the orphanage while bouncing a ping pong ball into one of Jackie's few remaining cups. "We were playing hide n' seek, and I was looking for him, but my heart started acting up again and I slid to the ground, and Miles found me sitting on the ground, and he started to whimper..."

"Babies do be like that." Marco said with a warm smile.

"So anyway, he pointed to the bathroom pantry and asked me to open it, and so I did and then he grabbed for the box of bandages, a-and he took one out and unwrapped it, and he put it on my shirt." She pointed to her chest where her heart was as Jackie & Marco both "aww'd." "It was so adorable & I was so proud of the little tyke and ugh I love those babies so much!"

"It was _so_ cute," Marco had to agree. "It really is like she's their older sister."

"I always thought Star would make a great sister. You have a way with people, you know." Jackie said as she took a shot of apple cider out of the cup. Her sip was followed by a rather loud yawn and a moment where Jackie kept her tired eyes closed.

"You're not tuckering out on us, are ya?" Star half-joked, which happened to jolt Jackie away; Star then yawned herself. "It's barely into the night, we got a _loooong_ way to go..."

"Oh don't worry, we'll be fine...I'm sure..." Jackie examined the few remaining cups on the table. "In hindsight, I probably should've used sugary drinks instead to keep us awake...oh well, we can fix that when we're done." She directed their attention over to the other side of the room, whereas sat a giant TV with a game console hooked up, the controllers sitting neatly on the giant inflatable mattress for three. "I got us a ton of video games to play and _lots_ of sugary drinks & snacks to make the night go by faster!"

"Suuuugar..." Star droned happily, almost like she was in a paradise just at the mere mention of sugar. "You know me so well, girl."

"Of course I do." Jackie chuckled, which inadvertently got a blush from Star.

So the three of them finished their game of cup pong rather seamlessly before moseying on over to the mattress. The three of them kept their gaze on the mattress. The mattress itself wasn't anything special, but that it was big & wide enough to fit three people on it was what drew Star & Marco's curiosity. "That's a...pretty much mattress, Jackie." Marco said hesitantly. "Is this where we're sleeping tonight? I-I mean, if we even go to sleep at all...W-We brought our own sleeping bags-"

"Aw you guys didn't have to do that." Jackie said sweetly, wrapping one arm each around Star & Marco. "Come on, I wouldn't leave you guys hanging like that. I know it might be a bit of a snug fit, but wouldn't you rather sleep on a comfortable mattress than on the floor in a sleeping bag?" Star & Marco were still stuck on "snug fit," the mere thought of which got their faces dark red. They'd be awfully close to Jackie all night. Could they handle it?

"S-Sure, I guess." Marco sputtered out amidst the awkward air. "Thanks, Jackie. That's really cool of you to do for us." He was not doing a very good job of hiding his obvious blush, but Jackie wasn't in the mindset of pointing it out to him. She was certain it was their hormones acting up. None of them were explicitly _looking_ for this to turn into an "adult" gathering, they only wanted to let the evening play out. Whatever happens, happens, if you will.

So Jackie turned on the game system and took one of the three game controllers for herself, Star, & Marco. The two lovebirds took a seat on the mattress, and they immediately felt a sense of relief & paradise. "Holy cornballs, this is _sooooft_..." Star lovingly droned. "And I thought my bed was comfortable."

Jackie laughed. "And you guys wanted to sleep on the floor." She handed each of them a controller and then got each of them a bowl of candies & a bottle of sugary drink. "You guys up for playing some "Bash Tiger?" **(A/N: An obvious & poor parody of Crash Bandicoot) **Both of them looked at her like she had three heads. "You guys have never played it before? It only came out last yea-oh..."

"Yeah, we were...we were kinda busy last year." Marco awkwardly reminded her. "Star especially. You know, with the responsibilities and all..."

"Running a kingdom requires a lot of undivided attention..." Star lamented before looking over at her boyfriend and smiling. "Now I don't have to worry about it as much..."

"You mean _at all_..." Marco corrected her; he was _still_ insistant on a total reprieve from political obligations.

"So now we got time to catch up...and spend it together..." They slowly brought their hands closer to one another, looking to take the other...only to have that plan be stopped when Jackie absent-mindedly plopped onto the bed right in between them, holding the controller and a sugary drink. It was genuinly absent-mindedly, too; the look on her face indicated that she wasn't even thinking it through, evidenced by the growing dark circles around her eyes.

"Don't worry, I can do a quick run through of the tutorial for you guys. Then we can beat our way through this game and have a totally epic time! Sound good?" They both let out incoherent murmurs, which Jackie took as a "yes." So she got her controller ready and started to play through the game. "Okay, so you press X to jump..."

But while Jackie was completely zoned into the game, Star & Marco could not bring themselves to concentrate. They were too focused on their current predicament and...for lack of a better term, "position." Star & Marco both reached into their pockets & pulled out their phones; they didn't want to disturb her so they decided texting was the best option. And they were surprisingly really good at texting with only one free hand.

**S: "Marco...she's sitting on my hand."**

**M: "Mine too."**

**S: "Really?"**

**M: "Yup."**

**S: "How does it feel?"**

**M: "What?"**

**S: "You know what I mean?"**

**M: "It's not like that."**

**S: "You don't have to hide it from me. Your face is giving it away."**

**M: "Yeah? Well...so is yours."**

Indeed, both Star & Marco were blushing pretty madly as they looked down at their non-free hands. Jackie was so focused on her game and giving her tutorial speech that she didn't even notice.

**S: "Did she ever do this while you were dating?"**

**M: "No."**

**S: "Do you wish she did?"**

Marco hesitated as he read her question. He looked up again at Star's face. She had a sheepish but warm smile on her red face. She wasn't looking for a "gotcha" moment. She was looking for the truth from his heart. He took a quiet deep breath.

**M: "Kind of..."**

**S: "Doesn't it feel amazing?"**

**M: "It does..."**

Marco nodded along, almost as if he was falling into a trance.

**S: "See? You don't have to lie about these things."**

**M: "Star, stoooop, it's not like that..."**

**S: "But I _agree_ with you. She's a _babe_. Way more than I am."**

**M: "I wouldn't go that far."**

**S: "That's cuz you're a gentleman. But you know I'm right." **

Star gazed up at him, then at Jackie, who was still glued to the TV, almost as if she was oblivious to everything happening beside her. Then she looked back down at her non-free hand.

**S: "You know, she's way too distracted by that game. If you _really_ wanted to..."**

Marco looked up with his jaw agape when he read her latest text. She smiled & nodded back.

**M: "Are you nuts!?"**

**S: "Are you really going to tell me you haven't wanted to? You almost _always_ have your hands squeezing _my_ butt - which, thank you - and mine isn't anywhere near as amazing as hers."**

**M: "Why are you still pushing me to be like that-"**

As he was typing his most recent message, he looked up again at his girlfriend. Her looking away with a massive blush started to give the game away for him.

**M: "Do you really want _me_ to do it...or do _you_ want to do it?"**

The concept of projection wasn't something Star was familiar with, but Marco recognized it with ease. Star took a quiet deep breath and was about to text something back again. That is, until Jackie started moving again.

"And voila!" She shouted out of the blue, which spooked the two love birds as she turned to face Star. "It's that simpl-"

"I WASN'T SQUEEZING!" Star blurted out embarrassingly as she awkwardly lifted her now-free other hand up. Internally, Marco was panicking, worried that Star was about to humiliate herself. But Jackie took it in stride & chuckled. If she had put two and two together already, she was not showing it.

"We gonna play some Bash Tiger or we just gonna shoot the breeze?"

"...You can't sho-"

"Figure of speech, Star."

"Oh."

So off to video game land they went. Considering that the two lovebirds were in their own little world while Jackie was explaining how to play, it went about as well as one could expect: multiple careless deaths on the first level, fighting the enemies wrong, sloppy platforming, the works. It was a mess, though an admittedly amusing mess for the group. As time passed & they scoffed down sugary drinks & snacks, they found themselves breaking out into mindless laughter at different points of the game, especially as their sleep deficit grew.

"Get the box! You gotta break the box!"

"I'm pressing the button, it aint working!"

"That's your run button, not your spin attack!"

"My what!?"

It was about as chaotic as one could expect, and yet the three of them couldn't stop laughing the entire time. Eventually, after, like, the 500th death on the first level, they threw their controllers away - playfully of course - and gave up, laughing their heads off as they did so. The delirium was starting to set in a little. "Oh my gosh we're so bad!" Star said, sprawled out on the bed with both Jackie and Marco next to her.

"That was _so_ bad, guys!" Jackie snickered.

"I kept hitting the buttons but it didn't do nothing!" Marco playfully whined. "That was so much fun, though..." He looked over at his girlfriend & his ex; his vision was starting to blur due to the exhaustion but he saw them smiling at him, which procked a smile from him. "What should we do now? It's only..." He lifted his arm as if to check his watch...only he wasn't wearing a watch, a discovery that made him laugh. "I'm not wearing a watch..."

"It's only midnight..." Jackie said, checking her phone for the time. "We got a _looong_ way to go before the sun comes up, dudes."

"All night at Jackie's!" Star cheered, though slurring her words a bit. Maybe it wasn't the best idea for all three of them to have been up the entirety of the previous night for one reason or another.

"What should we do now?" Marco asked, rubbing his eyes. The dark circles around them were darkening, and one could see the eyes becoming bloodshot.

"Let's pop in a movie!" Jackie suggested. "I got a whole bunch we can choose from." She got up from the bed and, after losing her balance & then regaining it, made her way over to a cuppard & revealed a whole shelf of DVDs to choose from. "Whatcha' in the mood for?"

The two of them hesitated. "Uh...w-well, whatever you think will help keep us up. We trust your judgement." Marco said calmly before yawning again.

"Come on Diaz, don't...don't go knocking out on us..." Star said in a slurred speech, tugging his shirt and leaning in. "_I need you,"_ She whispered. "_I can't do this by myself_."

"I'm trying, Star, I'm...just so _tired_, man..." He squinted his eyes at Jackie, who had now turned her back to them to rummage through the cuppard. "Oh man..." His face turned bright red now. "Why does she have to be so _nice_?"

"I got it!" Jackie yelled, which startled the two lovebirds. She pulled out a DVD. "Kid Clown in Crazy Town!" The story about a teenage clown prodigy that moves to the big city, gets into the big circus show, and he falls in love with a city girl."

"That sounds like an incredibly stupid movie." Star tilted her head.

"Oh it is." Marco replied with a beaming smile. "It's one of the funniest dumb movies ever made."

"You've seen it before?"

"Yeah, it came out last year. Uh..." He hesitated slightly, blushed, and looked away slightly. "B-Before I came back to Mewni for you, Jackie and I saw it in theaters..."

"It was _such_ a riot. We were laughing so loud we almost got booted from the theater." Jackie continued. "It was great! You're gonna love laughing at it!" She popped the DVD into the DVD player; grabbed some more snacks & sugary drinks for the three of them, and then she took her seat on the bed in between Star & Marco. This time they made sure their hands were off the mattress when she sat down; they didn't want an awkward repeat. She turned the movie on, and it started to play.

* * *

The movie was as hilariously stupid as Jackie & Marco had advertised. It was a glorious two hours of nonsense, bad line reads, terrible special effects, and worse acting. The three of them barely had any moments where they weren't laughing at the silliness engulfing the screen. The sugary snacks & beverages helped keep them alert & awake throughout the movie. Unfortunately, once the credits started rolling, the sugar started wearing off as well, leaving them in a state of delirium. "Wooooow wow wow you...y-you weren't kidding." Star slurred as she turned her head to her friends. Her vision was blurred & her eyes were bloodshot. "I haven't laughed that much in a _looong_ time."

"Told you it was a good time." Marco slurred, laughing as he did so. "That was _soooo_ bad. The acting was terrible, a-and the clown b-boy and the city girl had _zero_ chemistry with each other, holy cow."

"W-Well of course they didn't." Star reached for the remote in Jackie's hand and rewound the film to a middle part that showed the clown teen in a restaurant laughing it up in a booth with another teenage boy. "L-Look at this. It's no wonder the chemistry with the girl was non-existant...the chemistry was here the whole time."

Both Jackie and Marco looked at each other, then back at Star. "I...don't think they ever meant for him to...you know, _like_ guys."

"Just because the subtext isn't obvious doesn't mean it's not there."

They couldn't exactly say she was wrong. "...I guess you have a point."

"All I'm saying is they had the love story in this movie completely backwards. He has way more chemistry with this guy in the restaurant than he ever did with that girl he was smitten for."

"I-I don't know, I thought it was believable enough..." Jackie slurred, turning to Star with her own vision blurry now.

"Oh come on, they had no chemistry! The only reason he ever had a thing for her was because he thought she had a hot bod." She said rather firmly. "There's nothing wrong with that but movies & shows gotta stop confusing love with attraction. They're not automatically the same thing..."

Marco had to tilt his head. What was she clammering about this time? "What are you talking about?"

"Look, you can be attracted to someone without being in love wih them, and you can love someone before you're attracted to them. Like...take _us_ for example..." Uh oh, things were about to get dicey now. If Star had been smart, she would've proposed they turned in now so they could all catch up on sleep. Alas, smarts had gone by the wayside the second the sleepover started. "I-I _love_ this boy here..." She gently carressed Marco's face as a smile crossed hers. "I-I don't know if I was "attracted" to him at first - not like I am now..."

"Gee, _thanks_..." Marco sarcastically said before yawning again.

"But he treated me right from Day 1. That's why I started falling for him and why I know my future is with him..." She leaned in and tried to kiss him. Her sleep deprived state made it seem like she was actually intoxicated, as her kiss almost completely missed his lips, but the two tired lovebirds laughed it off anyway before Star turned back to Jackie. "But _you_..." She said to her, carefully putting her hands on her cheeks & smushing them slightly. "I-I-I-I don't know if I wanna _date_ you, but yooou...you are so dang _hot_, girl. Li-Lo-Look at you..."

Up to this point in time Jackie was aware to an extent that Star had quite a thing for her. Not a thing strong enough to make her consider leaving Marco, but strong enough to mess with her psyche & drive her nuts. She was aware that Star didn't know she knew. And she was also aware that Marco had something internally going on with her as well; he wasn't "in love" with her, as Star surmised, but he was still attracted to her. None of them were proud of the feelings they had, and the shame was truly palpable. But Jackie had hoped hosting them for a sleepover would give them a chance to work through things so that there was no awkwardness between them. Unfortunately none of them accounted for the possibly that they'd be running on empty. Maybe it wasn't wise for Jackie to spend a whole night planning a part or for Star & Marco to spend a whole night wallowing in nerves.

"Oh girl, _stooop_..." Jackie slurred, exhaustion now hitting her like a ton of bricks too. "C-Come on, _me_? _Me?_ Of all people?"

Star turned to one of the walls where a mirror happened to sit. "L-Look at yourself, girl. Y-You-You can't tell me you're not the hottest girl in high school. T-There's just_noooo__ way."_

The three of them managed somehow to stumble themselves to the mirror; the delirious Jackie took a look at herself, turning her body all around and checking out every inch of herself. She then turned to Star, who somehow managed to put on a smile & massive blush in her tired state. "Really? M-Me?"

"Stoooop playing dumb, girl." She turned to Marco; her mind was essentially jello now, as were all of their brains. "Tell her, s-safe...safe kid-w-what was your name again?"

Marco, dizzy & fatigued beyond belief, looked at the two of them & blushed heavily. "Do I...Do I have-"

"You don't have to be modest, dude. We're, like, friends here, right?" Jackie said as she had to fight off drifting into a sleep.

"I-I think we are...I-M-My brain is fried..." He couldn't help but laugh in a silly manner. Star, somehow processing Marco's nerves, took the initiative.

"We-We-We-We both think you're _hot_, girl. Like..._suuuuuper_ hot..."

At this point their sleep deprivation was so severe they had lost nearly all rhyme or reason for anything. "Awww no way..."

They both slowly approached her; they might have been all out of sorts but they still wanted to be as respectful as possible. They both wrapped their arms around Jackie as she did the same for them. "I mean this nicely b-but we-we-we can't be within ten feet of you without everything going off in our bodies and our heads. You got _everything_ working for you. Every nook, ev-every cranny, e-every _curve,_ every freckle...it's all _spectacular_!"

Jackie blushed madly. "Aww, d-dude, stop it..."

"Come on...l-like how often do you get to say that to someone?"

"Girl, girl girl girl girl...girl..." Star gently grabbed Jackie's face and brought it close to hers, smushing her cheeks. "Y-You thought the boy...you thought the boy had a thing for you. Girl..." She had a huge red blush on her face now and a twinkle in her incredibly sleepy eyes. "Divide that by like a billion a-and that's...that's _me_ with you, I have, like, a super duper _huuuuuge_ crush on you, girl, you are _IT_!"

The delirious Marco snickered. "You mean multiply..."

Star cocked her head at him. "What?"

"Y-You said "divide" w-when you meant "multiply," cause...cause, you know, it-it-you're saying it's, like, bigger or something..."

"Ohhhhhh right right right right right..."

"...R-Really?" Jackie looked dead on at Star with her increasingly blurred vision. "M-Me? _I'm_ it? You think so?"

"Oh totally, totally, we both totally do...I-I ain't gonna break you and that awesome french girl up, promise. I just...you know you gotta say something, right? Right? That's how it goes?" At this point all three were rocking back & forth where they stood; their exhaustion made them unable to stand still. "I-I-I gotta say, I-I-I like your tush. I-I mean I _really_ like it, I-I could look at that thing _all day_..." Jackie couldn't help but blush as Star went on. "A-And I know I ain't alone..." Star turned to Marco. "R-Right?"

"Noooooo no no don't drag me into this noooo..."

"Oh come on, bro, i-it's all good..." Jackie said with a sheepish smile and a wink before turning back to Star. "H-Hey can-can-can I tell you a secret? Promise y-you guys won't tell nobody?" Both Star & Marco quietly nodded. "So I know, like, Chloe was m-my first girlfriend, b-but she wasn't actually, like, my first girl crush. Like a _real_ girl crush."

Both lovebirds "ooh'd" at that revelation. "R-Really? Well...Well who was it then?"

Jackie snickered in a drunken-like manner before leaning into the two of them very closely. By now any remaining rhyme or reason had gone out the window. "I-It was this seriously awesome out of town girl. S-She was like _soooo_ cool and everything." A little bit closer she leaned. "I think her name was, like..._Star_?"

The little reasoning Star & Marco had in their completely wiped minds caused them to raise an eyebrow in shock. "...Wha-"

Unfortunately, that was the end of the line for Jackie. A person can only take so much sleep deprivation, and Jackie hit her limit, quite hard. She fell asleep right where she stood, and it was only when she began snoring did the two lovebirds actually realize what was happening. "...I-I think she's out..." Marco slurred, turning to Star, who unfortunately was relegated to staring at the girl with her mouth agape.

"...Wow...e-even when she's sleeping she's super _hot_..."

"J-Just like you..." Marco playfully booped her nose - somehow - which managed to get a quiet laugh out of the two of them. They didn't even know what time it was any longer, and at that point it no longer mattered. They both agreed with Jackie - it was time to turn in. "L-L-Let's go to bed." The two very carefully took Jackie and quietly guided her over to their big air mattress, gently lying her down in the middle of it. They stared for just a moment, watching her chest rise and fall slowly. She was out cold, and almost nothing was waking her up for a while. "Y-You know you're right..." Marco said to Star, slurring worse now. "S-She is _smoking_ hot when she's sleeping. B-But not as how as _you_..." He sloppily wrapped an arm around her & kissed her cheek.

"O-Oh p-please, safe kid, w-we both know that ain't true..." She snickered, both of their faces once again red with blush. "W-We should probably crash, too..."

"...Yeah, w-we should..." So they both took one side of the bed and climbed in, Jackie square in the middle of the mattress. As it turned out, Jackie was right: it was a bit of a snug fit for the three of them. Not that any of them minded. "Y-You doin' okay...girl...w-whatever your-" His vision managed to catch a glimpse of Star, who had instantly knocked out the second her head hit the pillow. Even in his disheveled state, he was still worried for her well-being. Perfect boyfriend material. "G-Goodnight, hon..." And then that was it for him; his head hit the pillow, and he knocked out along with them.

* * *

9 AM came; the three of them were still out cold on the bed...that is, until Marco slowly opened his eyes. His vision was much clearer now than the night prior. Despite still having dark circles around his eyes, he was much more rested. He sat up & looked over to his right to see Jackie & Star still out, both lightly snoring and their hands precariously close to each other. The boy smiled & resolved himself to washing up in the bathroom. His memory of what happened the night prior was jumbled, but he still woke up feeling good about things between the three of them.

Not long after, Star found herself slowly waking up. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and saw Jackie laying in front of her, still peacefully out. A light blush returned to her face, but one that this time was very well under control. She got up & slowly tip-toed out of the room to find the bathroom, knocking on the door. "_It's open."_ She let herself in to find Marco splashing his face with water. "Oh...hey." He said a tad awkwardly. She could only smile at his polite nature.

"Hi." She too appeared a bit worn down with the dark circles under her eyes. But otherwise she was also more rested than the night prior. She made her way to the sink. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah." He truthfully answered. "I don't feel like a flaming dumpster of crazy anymore. H-How about you?"

She shrugged, splashing her own face with water in the process. "I guess I've been worse. I slept, at least..." During the process of splashing herself again, it dawned on her that her memory was a bit foggy.

"At least we had lots of fun."

"Oh totally! We played games, we had foods that were bad for us, we got to hang with Jackie..." Just the mere mention of her name caused Star to stop in her tracks and for her red face to return. Same with Marco. "Y-Yeah..."

"Be honest: do you feel like you got it all out of your system? You know...your feelings for Jackie..."

Star shook her head but with a smile on her face. "N-Not all of it...but I _do_ feel better."

He nodded along & smiled back. "Same here. She's...she's really cool."

"I think that's an understatement, safe kid." They shared a laugh with each other. After what they went through the night prior, they were in desperate need of one. "Real talk...are you okay?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I know will be. You?"

She shrugged back. "Same. But you're right...we'll be okay."

"And we _totally_ have to do this again."

"Oh yeah, definitely! Last night was so much fun...even if some of it is a blur..."

"Do you remember _anything_?"

"I...I don't know." She rubbed her eyes again and sighed. "I mean, either that was one hell of a fever dream...or Jackie told us she used to have a crush on me."

"...Well if it _was_ a dream then I had it too..."

Star's eyes exploded open. "No way." To them, it was too good to be true. Jackie Lynn Thomas, deemed the "coolest girl at Echo Creek Academy," having a crush on "exchange student" Star Butterfly? All before - or while - going out with Marco? "Should...Should we ask-"

"No! Uh, I-I mean...maybe we should wait on that?" Marco wasn't entirely certain how to proceed, something that he shared with Star. "W-We were all pretty out of it last night. Could've been just a figment of hallucinations or whatever."

She sighed, reluctantly accepting his logic. "Yeah, I guess. Still, this was a lot of fun and we _totally_ have to do this again."

"Agreed!" They high-fived, but it was a loud one; in a panic, they left the bathroom & returned to the sleepover room to find Jackie still sleeping peacefully, though her position had changed. Now she was hugging her pillow with her back arched slightly and her rear end slightly in the air, a position that Marco frequently exhibiting while sleeping in the past. "We should leave her alone, she...probably needs it more than we do."

"You know, _you_ used to sleep like that." Star lovingly nudged Marco's arm and winked at him, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"I did?" He asked; she rapidly nodded her head with a smug grin on her face. "Oh man...I must've looked really uncomfortable."

"Yeah, but you also looked cute." She gently pinched his cheek & kissed it, giving off a giggle while the boy blushed again.

"Thanks." He looked over quickly at Jackie, then back at his girlfriend. "Do I pull it off better than her?"

He winked at her, but her sudden deadpan expression made it clear what the answer was. "Dude...I love you, but like...no. Just _look_ at her." The tensions may have been mostly dissipated but that didn't mean they were completely gone. And after all of this, all they could do was laugh about it. "No offense."

"None taken. Wanna head back to my place? I'll cook us up an amazing breakfast."

"I like the sound of that. Oh, but..." She turned once more to face Jackie. After the fun they had the night prior, Star felt compelled to do _something_ to thank her. "Before we go..." She whispered something into Marco's ear, which made him smile & nod.

So the two quietly dashed down into the kitchen & started whipping up a nice, hot breakfast for Jackie. They took a portable table & tray up to her room & carefully set it down right next to her, putting the food on the table and covering it. Marco also took a piece of paper out of his pocket and left it on the table as well. "What's that?" She whispered to him.

"Just a thank-you note for her." He responded. "Thought she could use a pick-me-up."

Even now she couldn't help but be enamored with his humility. "Marco, why are you such a gentleman?"

He shrugged. "Good genetics?" They shared a kiss before preparing themselves to leave. The time had come for them to return to Marco's place, but not before showing Jackie a little gratitude on the way out. Marco leaned in closely & gently kissed Jackie's cheek. "Thanks for a fun night." He whispered before departing, which left just Star. Nervous as anything, she leaned in slowly and also gently kissed Jackie's cheek while adding in a careful hug; she quietly smushed her cheek against Jackie's, and somehow she didn't wake her up.

"Thanks for a fun night, Jackie." She whispered as well before departing & meeting Marco at the room door. "Her skin is so _soooft_..." She swooned calmly. "And yet her butt is so _firm_. How does _that_ work?"

"Speak for yourself." Marco retorted back with an unsubtle smile on her face. He may have been a gentleman, but that didn't stop him from gradually getting more open & daring with her, and that was exactly what she hoped for. They took each other's hands, kissed, grabbed their stuff, and then made their way out.

* * *

A little bit of time later, Jackie finally started waking up. Her tired eyes opened slightly, and the first thing they saw was the plate of breakfast sitting right in front of her. She propped herself up, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and took off the plate cover, revealing a plate filled with omeletes, small muffins, and bacon strips. "Oh my gosh, guys, you didn't-" She looked around and realized Star & Marco had long since left. She was slightly disappointed, but that quickly went away when she saw the piece of paper sitting underneath the plate. It was a note written by Marco, addressed from both him & Star.

_"We had so much fun last night. I know things got a little bit weird later on. Sorry about that. But it was still great. We love hanging out with you, and we hope you had a good time too. With love, Marco. P.S. Star says hi. P.S.S...or is it P.P.S, I don't know. Anyway, we made you breakfast, just a way we could say "thanks."_

Jackie chuckled as she finished reading the note. Short, but sweet. "Dude...such a gentleman." She said as she put the note off to the side, grabbed the utensils, and started digging into her breakfast. The sleepover did not at all go the way any of the three of them had thought or hoped it would. But fun was still had all around, and in the end, isn't that the most important thing?

* * *

**End of Episode 26!**

**This one was fun to write. Really fun. I wanted it to be funny with a bit of spice, but I didn't want to go full harem either. Nor did I want to actually retcon "Beautiful Christmas," and I think this solution works in that regard. Jackie's not just an attractive character in universe, she's also super chill & funny, and she's an awesome skater that taught our magical princess how to rollerblade. I wish she had gotten more screentime TBH.**

**I'm full Starco all the way but Star & Jackie are fun to write together sometimes too. I could totally see in canon Jackie having a thing for Star before the Battle for Mewni stuff. But hey, Jackie's happy with Chloe! Everyone wins! **

**In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. You know the drill :D**


	27. Vows of Silence

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 27: Vows of Silence**

**Episode Summary: Eclipsa & Globgor elect to partake in the Earth tradition of "Renewing Your Vows," so everyone pitches in to plan a perfect ceremony.**

**Original Release Date: September 10, 2020**

* * *

On a quiet Earthni evening, Star & Marco found themselves in the room of Eclipsa & Globgor, playing with Meteora while the two parents were getting themselves ready for a date night. "Oh my, don't you two clean up nicely." Star said, eyeing Eclipsa's beautiful dress that she wore for her coronation, and Globgor, who wore a nice brown vest & tie with a white colored shirt & dress pants. "Date night?"

"Why yes it is." Globgor said with a smile. "We haven't had too many of those, and we're trying to rectify that."

"Aww, date nights are always fun." She looked over at her future husband & kissed him gently. "Marco and I don't go out to restaurants or dress up fancy as much, but we decided we don't need to. Sure it's fun every now and then, but just cozying up in bed, watching TV, and cuddling can be just as much fun if not more."

"That's very true."

"Where are you going, anyway?"

"There's this lovely Sea Bass restaurant in town that we've been curious to try ever since the merge."

"Oh, "Simon & Barry's Sea Bass Palace." My parents love that place. In fact, they had a dinner date at that place the night before their wedding."

"Aww, how lucky."

Marco shrugged. "Not really, i-it's not very pricey. I think you can afford to go like once or twice a month if-"

"No, she meant the wedding." Globgor corrected, which caught Star's attention.

"Hold the phone, are you guys saying you never had a wedding?" Star asked, seemingly bewildered at this revalation. It had seemingly slipped her mind that Eclipsa and Globgor's relationship wasn't exactly a typical one, especially at a time when tensions between the monsters and the mewmans was as high as it was.

"That's right. We never had an opportunity. When I ran off with Globgor we didn't have a chance to have a proper ceremony. When we took refuge in the Monster Temple, we found a fellow monster that had the authority to marry and asked him to wed us."

"...Wait, I'm confused. So monsters didn't have the right to live on their own land, but they could marry a mewman and monster in matrimony?" Marco turned to his girlfriend, hoping she would be able to provide some answers. All she could do was shrug.

"You got me. The more I learn about Mewni, the more I realize how dumb a lot of its ways were." Now Star turned to Eclipsa. "Do you guys ever...regret not having a wedding?"

Eclipsa & Globgor both shrugged. "We find it best not to dwell on it. Not having one hasn't ruined anything between us."

"The crystalization did that plenty." Globgor tried to joke, but it didn't really fly that well with Eclipsa. But a meager laugh & a shrug seemed to brush all that off. "Don't stay up for us." He took his wife's hand as they walked out of the room, onward to their date. He turned to his baby daughter once more. "Be good for uncle Marco & aunt Star sweetie." They got a happy babble in response, which got a laugh from them before they set off. While Marco turned his attention back to Meteora, who playfully pouted at him & stuck her tongue out, Star was lost in thought over the information presented to them. She was only brought out of it by Meteora patting her face with her tiny hands.

"You alright?" He asked her.

"Yeah, just...just thinking..."

"That maybe the castle, or even the Monster Temple, has a room big enough to hold an awesome wedding?"

"Yea, maybe-" Star often forgot how good Marco was at reading her, whether it was her body language or her mannerisms. "Are you secretly a mind reader or am I just that obvious?" But she wouldn't give him a chance to answer. "Actually, don't answer that."

"Come on, I think it's a sweet idea. But could we pull it off?"

"What do you mean?"

"Obviously we'd need a lot of people to pitch in, a-and all our friends have gone back to school already." It was true; the new school year had already started, and all of their friends had returned to class. For the time being, Star & Marco weren't because...well, for one, Star was never meant to go to Earth school full time _and_ had to miss out on a full year because of her royal duties, and for two, Marco had somehow already earned his high school equivalent while on Mewni, so the next step for him was college, which he pledged not to start until at least the Spring.

"Marco, we'll think of something. We always do." She couldn't help but gently stroke his hair & kiss him lovingly; always the concerned one, he was. She found it adorable. "Maybe our folks can help point us in the right direction."

The boy hesitated, his mind instantly pivoting to some...uncertain thoughts. "Um...you sure?"

"What?"

"Is your mom really going to want to help us plan a wedding ceremony for "the monster lover" and her monster husband?"

Yes, the tensions that existed between Moon and Eclipsa were still in Marco's mind. Though things seemed to be mostly smoothed over between everyone, he couldn't help but feel a little paranoia over any potential explosions.

* * *

Of course, Marco's fears were instantly put to rest once Star explained the situation to Moon & River. "That's a wonderful idea, sweetheart!"

Star giddily clapped her hands. "Isn't it?"

While poor Marco was left befuddled. "Okay, I clearly don't understand anything anymore."

Which got Star to turn to him in a playful manner. "What do you mean "anymore?" Which was followed with a playful & soft punch to his arm & a kiss on his cheek. "Come on, Marco, it'll be great! And you know what? It could help further ice any tensions left between the mewmans and the monsters."

"I would've thought that would have been accomplished through the coronation." River twirled his beard, light on answers.

"It helped, sure. But one coronation ceremony was never going to just fix every bit of racism & hate that existed. Would've made things a lot easier, though..." Star said the last sentence rather quietly, once again reflecting on her work in the prior year, which prompted Marco to give her a shouler pat.

"No, but this'll be great!" We'll use the Monster Temple, we'll decorate the rooms, we'll hire a Justice of the Peace-"

"A what?" Star tilted her head.

"A Justice of the Peace. It's the name of the official that marries you."

"...really? I don't think we had any of that on Mewni."

"Weddings were quite informal in the kingdom." Moon explained. "We still had our ceremonies, but they were nothing like how...your Earth world handles them."

"Our world is just like your world: traditions that might seem...abhorrent or bizarre to an outsider."

"What about dear Eclipsa & Globgor?" River interjected. "How do they feel about this arrangement?"

The two lovers shot a look at each other and shrugged. "We haven't run anything by them yet. We just thought of this now-OH, IDEA! I HAVE AN IDEA!" Star shouted before hastily coverng her mouth and resorting to whispering. "_Let's make it a surprise."_

"A surprising...wedding?" Surely, Star had to be out of her mind. "How would that even work?"

"Easy. We send Eclipsa & Globgor away on a vacation so they can't be all sneaky & suspicious around us and we can concentrate on preparations."

"But that goes completely against what a wedding is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be _their_ day."

"Don't worry, I got it under control. Let me handle it." She stroked Marco's hair & kissed him. "Do you still have those papers on that hotel we went to on our getaway?"

* * *

It only took a few days of phone calls, but eventually, Star & Marco were able to book the same room that the two of them had on their getaway for Eclipsa & Globgor. Two weeks of wonderful luxury in the same hotel where Star & Marco exponentially grew their own relationship. "Well, this all sounds lovely, but...are you sure you'll all be okay here?" Eclipsa asked as she and her husband - bags in hand - waited for their taxi to pull up in front of the castle.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine." Star reassured them as the taxi pulled up to the curb. "You guys never had any proper alone time, so we thought we'd fix that for you."

"That's so thoughtful of you, dear. But on Earthni did y-"

"You don't have to worry about that." Marco jumped in. "All of your expenses have been taken care of. All you have to do is get to the hotel, check in, and _relax_." The warm embrace he gave Star was somehow the push Eclipsa & Globgor needed to be convinced. They took their bags & entered the taxi, exchanging goodbyes with everyone as the taxi drove off. With a smile on her face, Star turned back to her family behind her. "Okay, we got _two weeks_ to pull this off."

"Never fear, pumpkin!" River proclaimed. "We're already ahead of the game. We already have our team hard at work at the temple!"

"Already?"

"We were too excited to wait!"

Moon & River led them to the Monster Temple, where, in one of the rooms, a group comprised of some former royal subjects of the Butterfly monarch, Pony Head & her sisters, and a group of monsters. All of them were relatively enthused to be working on the event. Even the royal subjects, which took Star by surprise. As for the room itself, it appeared only in the early stages of preparations. But there were already several corsages hung up on every wall & the ceiling, red velvet curtains surrounding some of the windows, and at the entrance of the room stood the early stages of what appeared to be an ice sculpture.

"Star Butterfly!" Yelled Buff Frog - one of the volunteers - as he turned from working on the sculpture & embraced the girl.

"You said yes to doing this?"

"Why would we not? Eclipsa was queen that tried to fix tensions & give back our land. It is least we can do."

Marco took a look around. It also took him a bit by surprise seeing the work that was being done. But moreso, it was that the former royal workers and the monsters were working together _and_ getting along rather smoothly that was confusing him. There was also the little quirk about them planning a wedding for Eclipsa & Globgor without their imput. "Not to bring the mood down, but we still have a problem."

"What is matter, karate boy?"

"Oh...just the fact that we're planning a wedding for two people who aren't even here to give their imput. Shouldn't it be _them_ who run the show here?"

"Right, right right right, I see your point. But consider..." Star turned to her father, who pulled out from his coat pocket an extraordinarily thick booklet of papers - the manuscript for Eclipsa's book. "That she _will_ be running the show here."

"...Her book?"

"Yeah, there's a whole chapter here where she talks about what she'd want if she ever got to have a proper wedding." She flipped through the pages & stopped on a specific one, handing it to Marco for him to read through.

"...Huh, I'll be darned."

"See? It's not like I'm pulling ideas out of thin air. That's Pony Head's department."

"_**YOOOO B-FLY!**_" Screeched the bodyless character in question as she quickly floated over to the group. "Your wedding is, like, in good hands, promise!"

"But you don't have hands." Why Moon felt the need to point that out was beyond anyone's comprehension. Star brushed it off and took back the manuscript from Marco.

"Pony...listen to me carefully..." Star said, holding the book up. "This is Eclipsa's wedding. Okay? It's whatever _she_ wants, and what she wants is in this book. If you want to do something different or you have a question, you consult _me_. Is that clear?"

Pony Head gave the old "tsk tsk" routine. "B-Fly, B-Fly, B-Fly...you gotta, like, chill. Why don't you, like, trust us or whatever?"

"Well..." Star quietly scoffed & crossed her arms. "It's just that...I know how you and your sisters are..."

"_**EXCUSE ME!?" **_Roared another voice, this one of Whistine Pony Head, as she took floated towards the group. She appeared a bit annoyed at Star. "Yee of little faith."

"Yee? My name is Star-"

"_Figure of speech."_ Marco deadpanned blurted out.

"If there's, like, one thing we're good at, it's parties. Being the life of parties, planning parties, getting arrested at parties-"

"What was that last one?"

"So don't go questioning our party skills, girl. That is _not_ a fight that you want. _Especially with me_." The family took their parties seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they considered it worth fighting over. Pony Head had to step in.

"Whoa whoa, girl, hold it." She said as calmly as she could. "Don't go shaking down my B-Fly like that. She didn't do nothing to you."

"I don't like it when our party skills are questioned so _defiantly_ by outsiders."

"Outsiders? Like, that's my BFF, girl."

"Well she should, like, trust us and stuff."

"I do!" Star interjected. "I just...can't risk anything going wrong."

"Why, though? Like, there's no real stakes here, it's not, you know, like, the coronation or whatever!"

"Well, not for the world, no. But it's personal stakes for Eclipsa; she & Globgor deserve to have their dream wedding!"

"And they **_will_**! Just, like, chill, and let us do our work!"

Star sighed, she exchanged glances with Marco, Pony Head, and then Whistine. "Just please...please don't screw this up." As the two sentient pony heads floated away, Marco patted his girlfriend's shoulder in an act of encouragement.

"Hey, what do you say we focus on other areas of the wedding? Like...I don't know, _entertainment?_ You think Ruberiot would want to get in on this? He _did_ perform at her coronation."

".perform at the ceremony." ..Ruberiot...wow, I haven't heard that name in forever. Last I heard he and Foolduke ran off to spend some time together after the coronation. You think he'd be up for this?"

"Only one way to find out..."

* * *

Out in the woods, Star & Marco managed to come across a small village, similar to the ones that originally rested on Mewni, where families of Mewmans were settled, living out their every day lives. In one of the huts lived Ruberiot & Foolduke, who had settled down following Eclipsa's coronation away from the kingdom.

"A wedding, you say?" Ruberiot pondered while he tuned his instrument.

"Yup. We're going to surprise Eclipsa & Globgor with their dream matrimony." Star explained.

"Ah, the queen and her monster love. How lovely. And I suppose you're here to ask if we'll perform after the vows?"

"You did so well at the coronation, so...yeah. B-But only if you want to. It'll be a lot less stressful this time around...promise..."

Ruberiot put his instrument off to the side and took a deep breath. "It's not that I don't want to..." He gestured broadly to the room they were in; it was covered in baby decorations & baby supplies, such as a crib & a toy chest. As he was about to say more, Foolduke walked in, patting her stomach. The change in her abdomen area were subtle, but not enough for anyone to miss out on if they were looking hard enough.

"Oh...OH I GET IT!" Star squealed delightfully, applauding the two. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you! We've been spending every waking moment preparing for our pride & joy's arrival. I've been playing music to them every night before bed."

"That's wonderful and all, but...Foolduke isn't that far along, is she?" Marco said slowly, doing his best not to offend. "I-It looks likes she's not due until next year...a-and the wedding is...is in only two wee-there's no way I can say this without sounding completely insensitive, is there?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but my time has to go to my lovely wife and the child." Ruberiot felt a pat on his shoulder; he looked up to see it was Foolduke herself giving it to him.

"It's for the queen." Foolduke reassured him. "I'm not far along. One performance won't put either of us in danger."

"Are you certain?"

She nodded. "Let's give the queen and her love the performance they deserve."

"That's the spirit!" Star boasted in delight. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I will make it worth your while."

"Any special requests from the queen herself?"

Star pondered her answer for a moment. The book didn't mention anything of the sort. "You know what? _Surprise us_."

Both Foolduke and Ruberiot exchanged a warm smile with each other. "I was hoping you would say that."

"...I don't like the way they said that-"

"Don't worry, Diaz, this is gonna be great!" Star gleefully shouted. "Come, Mr. Mulberry, we have much planning to do!" She carefully grabbed his arm and started running towards the door, pulling him with her out the door. Excitement for the wedding was building and it was still two weeks away.

* * *

That night, Star & Marco - hauled up in Marco's bedroom tonight - were minding their business; Star was playing games on her phone while Marco was reading a later draft of Eclipsa's book. As Star previously mentioned, one of the chapters went into explicit detail aover what kind of dream wedding she would want, and Marco was using this time to take mental notes. While he was reading, he took a break & looked over at his girlfriend. For a moment, he found himself lost in the beauty before her. Her adorable smile, her intense concentration on the game she was playing, her returnng, long locks of hair, her gorgeous eyes. Yet again he found himself captivated. "...Hey, Star?" Her concentration was strong, but never strong enough to ignore the voice of her beloved. "Could I ask you something?"

She put the phone down and looked him square in the eye. "Shoot."

"...Have you...Have you ever thought about what kind of wedding you want?"

She scratched her head; one would think that with all the talk of weddings happening today she would be prepared for a question like that. "Uhh...I haven't really given it that much thought. W-Why?"

He shrugged. "No reason. Just been...sitting here...thinking, reading..."

"Let me guess: you're reading the chapter on weddings." He nodded as Star continued. "I can't help but feel so bad for Eclipsa. She never got the chance to have her special day. Sure, she was coronated - finally - but that's not the same thing as a wedding. I know weddings are really special for Earth people."

"For some of them it's the greatest day of their lives. They get to celebrate with all their friends & family, they get to say "I do" to the one they love, and then that magical kiss at the end..." Star took notice of her boyfriend's eye twinkle while he spoke. The thought of marrying her best friend was one that filled her with such delight. And clearly, Marco reciprocated those feelings.

"Spending the rest of your life with your best friend?"

He looked up from his trance & saw her smile. Some days he just had to pinch himself to tell him that it wasn't a dream, that _the_ former princess Star Butterfly was not only his best friend, but also his girlfriend, his partner-in-crime, and hopefully one day, his wife. "Sorry, I-"

"You're so cute when you're shy." She said as she lightly kissed his lips. "The truth is I...don't know what kind of wedding I want."

"Really?" Her answer took him aback. "I would've guessed that-"

"I'd want a big wedding? Big display, fireworks, confetti, that sort of thing?" He nodded along. She sighed, internally fighting off the dark clouds again. "Maybe there was a time where that sounded amazing to me. But the more that time's gone by, the more I second guess myself. I don't like being the center of attention anymore...m-maybe I never did and it was just cause I was royal or whatever, I don't know, but I don't like that as much now. Lately I'd rather just slink off to a corner and be quiet by myself and let _others_ have the spotlight, you know?"

"But a wedding is _supposed_ to be your day."

"I know that, it just...feels like a lot of hassle for one day, one party, doesn't it?"

"So you wouldn't want a big wedding? Would you want..._any_ wedding?"

"Oh, of course I would. Just...a smaller wedding." She admitted, looking slightly away in embarrassment. "I-I'd feel uncomfortable with all of the hulabaloo and the attention, but if it was just us and our friends & family, m-maybe in a small room...that might be better." She couldn't help but notice his slight hesitation in reaction to her answer. "But that's...not what you want, is it?"

He had to come clean. "I...don't really know what _I_ want, either."

An unsurprising answer from him, but a slightly disappointing one nonetheless. It was always the uncertainty of life that rattled their heads. "I would've thought that you'd be so sure of something like this."

"You thought I would want a big wedding."

"More like I though _you_ would want to throw _me_ a big wedding." Again she looked away. "To be honest, I-I'm glad you don't seem to want to do that." Only to then look back up at him and smile, her heart fluttering at the sight of his own smile. "I don't need a fancy wedding - or even a wedding at all - to tell me and the world that you're my husband."

A red blush crossed Marco's cheek. "Thanks, but...you think you don't deserve a big wedding?"

She meekly shrugged. "That's not really important-"

"And that's not a no."

Of course he'd point that out. Typical Marco. "The point is this isn't _our_ wedding. It's Eclipsa's."

"And you're just worried about something going wrong."

"You know how things have been lately. That group of mewmans getting up in my case about the cleaving, a-and Eclipsa never was completely accepted by our people."

"You think they'll try something to sabotage the wedding? Maybe there's a way we can keep them out-"

"No, wait!" She interrupted him, waving her hands frantically. "I-I don't want to do that."

"...why not?"

"Won't that just make things worse? Doesn't it give off a pro-monster, anti-mewman vibe?"

"You don't want that."

"Of course not. Us giving unequal treatment to mewmans over monsters - and vise-versa - is exactly what brought tensions so high. And if we say that mewmans can't join in but monsters can, then we're going right back to where we were when Eclipsa first took over. We should be better than that. So I figure...let it be an open house. Anyone that wants to watch can watch, and anyone that doesn't can stay as far away as they please."

"...that's honestly not a bad idea."

"I have my moments."

"A lot more of them than you realize." Marco put the book in his hands off to the side & cradled her face, bringing her in for a big kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, you big softie. You are _the_ sweetest person I've ever met."

"I try."

"And you succeed." They parted and prepped themselves for bed. Or should I say..._"bed."_ "Hey, Marco..." She said as the two of them climbed under the blankets and embraced each other.

"What's up?"

"I...don't know why but I feel like I should say I'm so-" Before she could get those fateful two words out, he gently put a finger over her lips and kissed her again as her body relaxed.

"What did you learn in therapy about apologizing?"

She shrugged. "Only do it when you've actually done or said something wrong."

"Right. So what are you apologizing for?"

Again, a shrug. "I don't know...just because?" The improvements Star showed emotionally & mentally from the start of the summer to this point in time were astronomical. But that didn't stop the occassional low points. There was still much work to be done. Lucky for her, nobody in her life - Marco included - had any intention of letting her go through it alone. He again embraced her. "Sorry...still have my bad moments."

"Stop beating yourself up. You're doing great. We're so proud of you." He kissed her as they finally readied themselves for their nightly fun.

"Thank you."

* * *

A week passed by. Pony Head & her sisters, as well as a select group of monsters & Butterfly family members - plus Ruberiot & Foolduke - were busy prepping the room of choice for the Eclipsa/Globgor wedding. Star & Marco decided to handle some of the lighter aspects of preparations, like putting up flyers everywhere in town for all to see. Much as Star was content with the prospect of it being a private wedding with a small gathering, she deduced that it was only just that they make the effort to spread the word anyway.

But flyer-making was only so fun for so long; eventually she & Marco got tired of it and decided to head back to the Monster Temple, this time with the children from the orphanage - or as Star has since dubbed them, "The Happy Brigade" - along for the ride. "Okay kiddies, you ready to help us out today?" She said to them as they all jumped around joyously. Each of them were holding some papers, each with drawsing of Eclipsa and/or Globgor in some way. "Good! So all you have to do today is put up these posters all over the room. Spread them out. Make it look festive & lively."

Each of the children babbled happily, their own way of saying "yes" to Star. She led them & Marco into the temple and towards the room where the wedding was going to be held. But as they approached it, they saw what appeared to be an expensive chair thrown out the door, hitting the wall & having a leg come off. Red flags went up in both of the teens' heads.

They dashed right to the entrance and looked inside. What they notice was...quite the concerning sight. The room appeared to be in a bit of shambles. All of the workers who were there volunteering were racing around like headless chickens, some of the furniture & equipment had been damaged, and Whistine & Pony Head were loudly arguing in the middle of it all, with the other sisters flying around like headless chickens also.

"I'm telling you, girl, Eclipsa's color totally, like, crimson!" Pony Head screeched. "The crimson drapes look _way_ better for her color scheme!"

"You've clearly had one too many Goblin Dogs, bruh. Eclipsa is way more burgandy! The burgandy curtains bring out the shine in this musky room!

"Burgandy!? Your colors are about as whack as your sense of fashion! You-" The two somehow realized that Star, Marco, and the kids were standing at the door. "_Heeeeeey_ B-Fly."

The kids, upon Star being acknowledged, cheered & jumped repeatedly in place before running off in different directions to do the job Star assigned them to. "Pony Head...what...is going..._on_!?" Star was suddenly not in a good mood. Pony Head knew better than to try and lie to her.

"W-Wh-What do you mean, girl?" She said back, desperately hoping she could turn the argument in her favor despite the obvious damage around her. "We-We just setting the place up, you know?"

"Why does it look like a tornado hit this room!?"

"How do you know one didn't, fool?" Whistine hissed.

"You see? _This_ is why I was worried about leaving you guys in charge of things!"

"So why did you?"

"Because she already handled Eclipsa's coronation mostly by herself, she shouldn't have to do it a second time!" Marco loudly bellowed; once he realized what escaped his lips, he covered his mouth hastily in shame.

"Who asked you to do _that_!?"

"N-Nobody, but that's not the point!" Star retorted back. "The point is we're low on time and I'm a little low on patience.". But,

"Why? You said it yourself, girlfriend. It's, like, low-stakes this time cause, like, the whole world isn't riding on this working on or whatever. That's why you were kinda like bridezilla during her coronation."

"I-I had to make sure everything was _perfect_."

"Well it wasn't, but it still worked out, didn't it?"

Star rubbed her temples & took a deep breath. "Alright, you have a point. I just...don't want this to go wrong."

"Girl, you gotta, like simmer down or whatever. You gotta, like, stop acting like the world is on fire or something. Look at what happened with her coronation." Pony Head said with a rare, calm inflection. "Everything that could've gone wrong did, but, like, it was still good. And it was totally successful and stuff. And it wouldn't have happened without you. But, like, it's not your problem all by yourself. We know it, like, looks bad and all right now, but we got lots of time, girl."

Star found her shoulders again being patted by her love. "They're right. We have time, we have a plan, we have a great group of people helping us out...you don't have to do it alone this time."

The girl sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I just don't want to let them down."

"_You haven't let us down, sweetheart."_

"Thanks, Eclipsa, bu-" And as quick as the light bulb had gone off in her head, it had shattered. Everyone in the room - even the toddlers - turned to the doorway and saw Eclipsa & Globgor standing there. They appeared a bit worse for the wear, but in mostly positive moods. "E...E...E-Y-You're home early!" The children, without warning, sprinted to the two and circled them, cheering for them & jumping in place. Everyone silently admired the sight for a moment. "W-What are you doing home so early? You still had a week and a half of vacation!"

"We..." Globgor began before looking over to his wife & smiling. "We were evicted."

"_Evicted_!?" Marco exclaimed in horror. How did _that_ happen!?"

"Well..."

* * *

_**[Flashback]**_

_**The swimming pool was filled to the brim with people enjoying themselves, Eclipsa included. Globgor was on the diving board, readying himself...in more than one way. He used his growing abilities to enlarge himself to a monumental size before readying his dive. "CANNONBALL!" He screamed as loudly as he could before jumping off the board. The mere sight of his enormous size frightened the crowd, but there was nowhere near enough time to get out of the way, so they all felt the impact of his enlarged body hitting the water, and...well...you can probably deduce the rest.**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

* * *

"The tenants were not too happy with me after that..."

"Great, so much for my down payment..." Marco muttered to himself.

"Once we were evicted, we figured we would surprise you all at the castle. That...did not work out the way we thought. So then we went to see Marco's folks."

"And they told you we were here?" The boy face-palmed. "My parents are terrible secret-keepers."

"Well, our story's out of the way." Eclipsa interjected. "Now it's your turn."

Star knew it. Marco knew it. Everyone in the room knew it. They couldn't hide the truth any more. It was time to come clean. "Okay..." A loud, deep breath from Star as she stepped forward; as she did so, the children gravitated from Eclipsa & Globgor over to Star. "When you told us you and Globgor never had a "proper" wedding, I decided that...I wanted to throw you one. And I thought it would be a nice thing to surprise you two with."

"A surprise wedding?"

"Well, you did fill your book with all sorts of nuggets about what kind of wedding you'd want. We sorta used that as a guide..."

"Why you thought it would be wise to put _that_ of all things in your book is beyond us." Marco snarked. "But it's actually been a huge help for us."

"Unfortunately, executing said wedding has gone...not as smoothly." Star hung her head in disappointment, only to look up and see a few of the children tugging at Eclipsa's dress; they pointed excitedly to one of the drawings they had put up on the wall and led her & Globgor over to it.

"Oh, yes, I see." Eclipsa was more than happy to play along with the babies. "Did you draw this?" She addressed Miles with this question, but he happily shook his head and drew their attention to another kid in the pack - the girl named Lilly - who stepped forward, giggled, and blushed. It was a simple drawing...it was two stick figures - who were supposed to be stand ins for Eclipsa & Globgor - holding hands in front of a crude house drawing. "It's wonderful." Eclipsa said giddily, which drew Lilly's attention & got her to start clapping & cheering in place. The other children soon followed suit.

"Gosh I love those kids..." Star said to herself, holding back tears of pride as her boyfriend embraced her tightly. Eclipsa & Globgor turned away from the kids momentarily to face Star.

"Sweetheart, this was such a wonderful gesture."

Star blushed & shrugged. "Yeah, but it hasn't been going well. We gave ourselves two weeks to do this, and halfway through it's a _complete_ disaster!"

"How so?"

"Look around you!" She brought the state of the room to Eclipsa's attention. "This place isn't fit for a wedding."

"Oh, so the room looks like it was hit by a tornado. Nothing a little elbow grease can't fix." She approached her former advisor & carressed her cheek. "It doesn't matter if the place looks like our castle or if it looks like an animal shed. What's important is the people surrounding you, offering you their love & grace." She then turned to face everyone else in the room. "And the fact that you all took times out of your busy lives just to help my family in this little endeavor...well that just means the world to us." She wiped a tear from her eye as Globgor handed her a tissue.

"So, like, what do we do now?" Pony Head exclaimed. "The element of surprise is, like, gone or whatever."

Eclipsa playfully scoffed. "Oh, don't dwell on that. We can still make this work."

"There's _no_ way we're getting this place souped up for a wedding in a week."

"Then we'll just work with what we have. A wedding is a wedding!"

* * *

The following week went by mostly chaos-free. With Eclipsa & Globgor now in the fold, preparations & decorations for the wedding went by nearly flawlessly, and by the time the day arrived that they were originally supposed to return from their trip, everything was in place. The time had come for things to begin; Star, Marco, Moon, Buff Frog, & others were awaiting for the arrival of the bride, with Globgor - all dressed up in a tuxedo - patiently waiting for his beloved. River was at the altar, acting as the Justice of the Peace. The rest of the volunteers were sitting in the gallery.

"This place looks unbelievable." Marco whispered to Star.

"It's amazing what can happen when we all come together." Star said in amazement. "You guys didn't have to do all this, but...thank you."

He gently kissed her cheek. "It was fun." Their attention was diverted by the sound of trumpets playing; a bunch of former royal subjects were performing a musical tune at the door. The door opened up and the children of the orphanage - also all dressed in appropriate attire - came swarming out. Each of them was holding a flower basket. Each of them were an honorary flower girl or boy. "Look at them, Marco. Aren't they adorable!?" The kids, reveling in the moment, all began walking down the aisle. Instead of the time-honored tradition of throwing flowers in the air and onto the ground, the kids instead each took flowers & handed them to the patrons in the crowd.

"Oh no, I forgot about flower girl training." Marco remarked, completely oblivious to the tears of pride swelling in Star's eyes. "They're doing it all wr-"

"Leave them alone, they're doing their best, okay!?" Star whisper-shouted, the tears falling full force. He hugged her to quell said tears; if she was happy, he had no reason to complain. "So, Globgor...how're you feeling?" She looked over at the monster husband to see him also wiping away tears of pride; he was staring at the door, which was still open. And standing at said door was Eclipsa dressed up in her coronation gown, with Marco's father Rafael "giving her away," and Angie right beside him.

"I am...eternally grateful." Globgor said through his tears.

Star quietly turned to Marco. "So am I." She uttered while embracing her boyfriend tightly. "By the way, who's watching Mariposa & Meteora?"

"Alfonzo & Ferguson volunteered. They're back at my house."

"...And you think that's a good idea?"

"Calm down, Star. They're awkward, but harmless. Like us." A kiss was shared between them, just in time to see Eclipsa take her place up on the altar & take Globgor's hands. Angie & Rafael joined the kids besides them. River cleared his throat, opened his eyes wide, and smile brightly.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and others..." He bellowed proudly to the room. His voice & projection were more than strong enough to reach the entire room without assistance. "Today, we gather together to celebrate the union between these two wonderful figures in the...erm, _long_ history of our kingdom..." Given said history of the kingdom, "long" was just about the nicest thing he felt he could say about it. "Queen Eclipsa Butterfly...and King Globgor..."

Off to the side, Star couldn't help but be overcome by all sorts of emotions as she watched the ceremony unfold. Her tears were only stopped by Marco gently squeezing her hand. "Don't mind me, I'm just being a baby."

"Admit it: you're picturing yourself in Eclipsa's place, aren't you? And me in Globgor's?" One could only imagine why Star still thought she could sneak one past him. She relented & nodded, which prompted him to hug her & bring her in for another hug. "Weddings can be such a beautiful thing."

"I can't wait until _we_ get to have one, however big or small it is." Of course no hug would be complete without a kiss, and one that didn't overstay its welcome. After all, it was Eclipsa & Globgor's moment, not theirs, as River demonstrated.

"Do you, Eclipsa, take this honorable man, Globgor, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To love and cherish...for better or for worse...in sickness and in health...as long as you both shall live?"

Eclipsa was failing now to hold back her own tears of pride. The warm smile on Globgor's face didn't help matters. "I do."

"And do you, Globgor, take this honorable woman, Eclipsa, to be your lawfully wedding wife? To love and cheris...for better or for worse...in sickness and in health...as long as you both shall live?"

Globgor followed suit; tears streaming down his face, he let out a soft chuckle. "...I do."

"Then, by the...erm..."power" invested in me..." It was an open secret that this ceremony wasn't "official." Nobody was busy contesting the validity of their marriage. That didn't stop this from being a bit awkward for River. "By the world of..._Earthni_...I hereby pronounce you...Monster and Wife."

And without further delay, the two embraced each other & passionately kissed, enveloping the room in an aura of pure delight & love. Applause from the crowd - the little children included - filled the room. Even Moon couldn't help but be sucked into the applause. As for Star & Marco, they once again enveloped themselves in a tight embrace, the love eminating from Eclipsa & Globgor surrounding & gripping them in a relentless chokehold of warmth. Despite the problems, the festivities went off without a hitch, and for a short, brief time, all felt right.

Or so they thought.

In the middle of a kiss with his beloved, Marco's eyes slightly opened; his vision caught sight of something truly catastrophic. "GET DOWN!" He screamed, grabbing Star and pulled her to the ground. Everyone around them on stage followed Marco's lead & shot straight for the ground. In the interim, what they were avoiding appeared to be a powerful energy blast that only barely missed them & hit the wall behind them, leaving a massive hole. The crowd started shouting in terror, as did the little children. "A-Are you alright?!" Marco asked Star, helping her back up to her feet.

"Yeah I'm fine." She shrieked; she appeared terrified but otherwise unharmed. "Is everyone okay?"

Everyone gave off varied murmurs, but all lead to a similar "yes." The kids in the crowd were all crying & frightened, with Buff Frog & his kids doing their best to calm them down.

"What. The. Heck. Was. **_THAT_**!?" Star shouted through gritted teeth. All eyes then reverted back to the doorway, and what was there had nearly everyone's jaw on the ground.

"SON OF A CORN BALL I MISSED!" Came the shrieking, obnoxious voice of one long-nosed, petulant, pretentious former royal subject Manfred. In his hands, he held a magic wand. But it wasn't like the one Mariposa possessed. This wand more closely resembled the appearance of a scythe. It was shorter than a normal scythe, but the blade was just as sharp, and also it was gold-colored. There was a hexagon-shaped maroon crystal in the middle of the blade. The handle was silver, and there was a maroon charger on the tail end that on first glance appeared to resemble a dagger.

"Manfred!?" Moon shrieked, shocking everyone else out of their trance. "What is the meaning of this buffoonery!?" It took a moment, but for everyone it eventually registered that something was completely off. "Wait a moment...that can't be-"

"Is that a magic wand?" The sheer terror in Star's voice was clear. "Manfred...what are you _doing_!?"

"Me?! I'm restoring the kingdom's former glory! DOWN WITH THE MONSTER LOV-" He lifted his arm as if to fire a magic blast again...only this time he was completely disarmed. Another magic blast came out of nowhere and hit Manfred square on, knocking him into the wall & temporarily immobilizing him. Now that was _two_ magical blasts the crowd all had to comprehend. But the source of this new blast quickly made itself known.

As had become habitual at this point in time, it was Mariposa, who, alongisde Meteora & Cassandra Cher, were inside a magical bubble that was both protecting their neverzone bodies from de-aging _and_ protecting them from certain harm. The bubble made itself known to the group, who all expressed dismay & ghastly shock. There the three stood: Mariposa, Meteora, and Cassandra Cher, all in the bubble, all visible to everyone.

"Meteora!?" Exclaimed Eclipsa.

"Mariposa?!" Marco followed suit.

"Ms. Cher!?" As did Star. None of them could find the right words to describe the feelings bubbling within. Unfortunately they wouldn't have the chance to do so.

"...sorry, everyone..." Was all Mariposa could muster up before holding her wand up one more time, unleashing a massive blast of magical energy, one that engulfed the entire room in its path. One could only imagine what could come of this...

**To Be Continuned...**

* * *

**End of Episode 27!**

**Next Time: Exposition Dump. What happened that led to this very cliffhanger? You'll find out.**

**Okay, real talk: Starting Monday the 14th I start a new job (technically returning to my old one) that's supposed to last for several months (though hopefully longer). That combined with the house-packing gettng to the climax - we could be leaving any day now - and this is basically a long-winded way for me to say "expect chapter updates to slow down a little more." I've been lucky up to this point that I've been able to pump these out as quickly as I have given everything that's going on, but if we suddenly go several weeks without an update, this is why.**

**Thanks for sticking around! As always, please read & review! :D**


	28. Exposition Dump

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 28: Exposition Dump**

**Episode Summary: Following Manfred crashing Eclipsa & Globgor's "wedding," Star, Marco, & Co learn a fishing net's worth of truths about subjects such as the "destruction" of magic, the angry mewman conspiracy, and the true origins of Star's therapist, Cassandra Cher.**

**Original Release Date: October 1, 2020**

* * *

Star, Marco, Moon, River, Eclipsa & Globgor loudly groaned. They were all spread out on the floor, in diffierent positions, having spent the last several minutes unconscious. Now they were coming out of it & returning to reality...or at least, the reality that was currently around them. The first thing Star herself saw was Meteora - teen Meteora - kknelling down over her & examining her.

"About time." Were the only words that escaped Meteora's mouth. Unfortunately for her, it was followed up with Star screaming like she just saw a ghost & her scurrying up off the ground & dusting herself off. As the rest of the unconscious group followed suit, it became more clear what had happened: the magical blast Mariposa had unleashed on the room had transported everyone to the Neverzone. More specifically, it was transported to the location where they had been storing Mariposa's wand for safe keeping.

Or I should say...it transported the six of them to the Neverzone.

"Someone better start talking!" Star roared as she went over to help Marco up. She went over expecting to see her normal-looking boyfriend standing there. Unfortunately, as this was the Neverzone, reality slapped her right in the face. In the place of her normal boyfriend was the "hunkalicious ab man," as Star had dubbed him. Yes, the Marco that had spent 16 years in the Neverzone chasing around Hekapoo to earn back Star's dimensional scissors (that Pony Head had stolen for her originally) was standing in front of them. "_Abbbssss..._" Star, of course, was immediately thrown into a trance. Everyone else - minus Mariposa & Meteora, who were already used to this appearance - was stunned.

Marco, despite having said abs back, wasn't entirely thrilled to be taking his current form. "Of course we're in the Neverzone..."

"Star, deary, what is the meaning of this?" Moon spoke up right away. She couldn't simply let this little discovery of theirs go unchecked. "Why does Marco suddenly look like...that..."

Star hadn't ever told her family what had happened. She figured it would never come up or be important. "Um...yeah, so, see-"

"I took Hekapoo's Scissors challenge! Took me 16 years to earn back Star's dimensional scissors!" Marco shouted in delight. Star could only face-palm.

"Sixteen yea-oh that's right, time dilation." And Moon buried her own face in her hand.

"That _would_ explain why Marco's sister and my daughter have aged so rapidly as well." She turned to face her daughter, who couldn't help but blush and look away. "They grow up so fast."

"_Not the time, Mom, not the time..._" Meteora whined to herself.

"Of course, this only raises so many more questions for us..." Eclipsa's mind automatically went to the most uncomfortable scenarios in her head regarding Marco, which Star instantly shut down.

"No, Eclipsa, Marco and I have never done _that_ here. Heck, we've...actually not come back here since magic got destroyed. Or should I say..."destroyed," She finished off with air quotes.

"Yeah, we, uh...we have some things we need to explain." Meteora started to speak before being cut off by Star.

"Before we go any further...what happened to everyone else?"

"Oh, don't worry, they're all fine." Mariposa tried to reassure her.

"Ruberiot & Foolduke?"

"Back at their little hut."

"The Happy Brigade?"

"_Is that what you're calling the-_They're back at the orphanage, safe and sound."

"What about our parents?" Marco specifically asked Mariposa.

"Back at the house, none the wiser."

"...back at the house...with Ferguson & Alfonzo..."

* * *

Indeed, back at the Diaz household, Angie & Rafael found themselves briefly unconscious, slumped on the couch, before slowly coming back to reality. The first thing they saw upon awakening was Alfonzo & Ferguson playing Dungeons & Dragons on the floor right in front of them. "Want to play D&D with us?" Ferguson asked them.

"O-Oh, no thank you boys." Rafael said quickly. "I-I don't think that's very appropriate."

Ferguson held up his toy figure - one that resembled a sorcerer - towards Rafael. "You can be a wizard."

"Ohhhhh _that_ D&D!" Was Rafael's response, which caused a spectacular jaw drop from his loving wife.

* * *

"Yeah but on the bright side, they're unharmed." Mariposa reasoned with her brother, who rolled his eyes.

"I guess."

"Alright, enough banter!" Star loudly proclaimed, crossing her arms & scowling at Mariposa, Meteora, & Cassandra. It was her typical "don't tick me off" face. "I want answers."

The three of them silently exchanged looks, their faces fallen. They hoped that this day would never have to come, that they'd never have to reveal to Star or her family that magic had indeed returned again. Quiet flashbacks popped in the heads, replaying the night where the stresses of magic & the political game finally pushed Star over the edge. The night where it finally spilled out & she nearly bled out smashed a mirror in frustration with nothing but her bare fists. The night that permanently sealed her hatred of all things political & magical. Once the Magic High Commission were destroyed, and Mina & Queen Solaria soon followed - all at the hands of Star - it was logical to assume that that was it: the end of magic. Sadly, logic & magic often did not coincide.

"We didn't want you to have to find out." Cassandra finally spoke up, stepping forward towards Star. "It wasn't supposed to be your battle."

"...So magic's back? I guess that means the likes of Hekapoo are back, huh?"

Cassandra shook her head. "No."

Which ended up surprising Star & the rest of the group. "Rhombulous?"

"Nope."

"Omnitraxus?"

"No."

"The Realm of Magic?"

"Also no."

If Star was confused before, she was doubly so now. "Okay...I think you should start back at the beginning."

Much as it pained her, Cassandra agreed. "I think that's only fair." She cleared her throat and looked Star straight on. She was not about to back down from this confrontation. As her therapist, she owed Star the truth. "My name is Cassandra Cher. I'm a mental health professional, a licensed therapist...and a Mewni historian."

"...Mewni historian?"

"Over the course of my adult life I have spent countless hours documenting the important, historic events that have transpired in the kingdom. Every important or seemingly unimportant event has been documented in meticulous detail. I have shelves upon shelves of books detailing an extensive timeline of events from the day I decided to embark on this journey to where we are today."

"So you know about everything that's happened?" Star asked her, Cassandra nodded her head. "Toffee nearly destroying the kingdom, Meteora's onslaught back when she was still jumbled in the head..._me_ trying so hard to mend the fences between Mewmans and monsters?"

Cassandra nodded. "All of it. And I assure you, your folks are right: you did a marvelous job trying to fix the mistakes of your ancestors."

Star blushed, flattered at the compliment. "You're not the first person to say that to me, but thank you."

"During the period of time where you and your loving boyfriend were on that trip, your folks put out a feeler for a professional therapist. When I got wind of that, I immediately contacted them. I was quite eager to work with you all and help you."

"And you have, trust me. I was a total tire fire after everything was said and done. Still kind of am, but...not as bad." Star darted her eyes to Mariposa & Meteora. "But what does this have to do with magic? Why is it back _again_?"

"**_How_** is it back again, is the better question." Moon piped up. "Star successfully destroyed the magic...twice."

"_We_ destroyed it." Star clarified. "You guys were more than helpful."

"Obviously we weren't since we clearly _failed_ to destroy the magic."

"You know, on Earth, one of the most important laws of energy conservation is that energy can't be created or destroyed. It's merely transformed into another form of energy." Marco chipped in, rubbing his head as his mind raced with different thoughts. "Maybe magic works the same way. Every time it's "destroyed," it just transform into a different kind of magic."

"What are you going on about, boy?" River finally said after keeping silent.

"Think about it: after we tried to destroy it the first time - cleaving portal and all that - it came back but only Star and I could use it at first, but we also had the ability to give other people around us the ability to use some magic with just our hands. Sure, everything was almost like how it was originally - Glossaryck was around, the Realm of Magic still existed - but magic clearly did not interact with us the same way that it used to."

Everything that was coming out of the boy-turned-awkward man's mouth was making sense so far. "Actually, that makes...sense. There wasn't even a _wand_ during that brief period of time. We all had to "dip down," as Glossaryck called it. But now wands are back? Manfred had one, and..." She looked over at Mariposa, noting the wand she was carefully cradling in her hands. "Mariposa has one too..." She slowly strolled over to Marco's sister; she handed Star the wand as gently as she could. "Also can I just say that this wand is _soooo_ cute! It's a butterfly shape. Mariposa's name means butterfly in Spanish. It's perfect!" Unlike the previous Butterfly family wand, this one's shape did not alter when it exchanged hands, a fact that caught everyone off guard. "But...N-Nothing's happening."

"What do you mean?"

"U-Usually the wand changes the way it looks depending on who's wielding it, but nothing's happening. It's like it's...stuck or something. What's going on?"

"Your guess is as good as ours." Meteora chirped up again.

"Well how did you come across this wand? And where?" Eclipsa barged in.

"For that matter, how did you even find yourselves acquainted with this dimension?!" Moon's question was nothing if not reasonable. Star and Marco hesitated in answer her.

"That...may or may not be our fault." Marco raised his hand and lowered his head in shame. "Long story short, Hekapoo left one of her portals open when she came to talk to me on Earth and the babies accidentally fell through it."

"W-Why was Hekapoo visiting you on Earth?"

"She warned me about how "something terrible was about to happen" and told me not to let you or me go back to Mewni. It was...around the time of Mina's invasion..."

If there was ever a bad time for Star's blood to boil, it was now. But it was happening. "They just keep giving me reasons to hate them, the traitorous little..." She bit her tongue - figuratively & literally - in order to keep her cool. She had to focus on the facts currently in front of them.

"Actually, speaking of Hekapoo..." Meteora and Mariposa converged near each other & took hands, their looks of concern eliciting murmurs from the others.

"...What about Hekapoo?" One could hear it in Star's voice pitch: her mind was instantly going to the worst case scenarios.

"Okay, so...when we found the crystal that made this wand, we weren't actually looking for it. We were on a hunt for some really valuable treasure, but along the way we ran into some...really disturbing creatures."

"Creatures?"

"They were like this hybrid...half-spider, half-bear. They kept on us the entire time and it forced us to go on the run _constantly_. And they kept screaming things like "You killed our guardian" or some variant of that crap."

"Our guardian...do they mean Hekapoo?" Moon pondered.

"Well none of the other people in the Commission dwelled in this dimension, so yeah I'm pretty sure it's Hekapoo." Star crassly responded, crossing her arms and trying - poorly - to conceal a growl.

"We're not really sure what to make of them." Mariposa admitted. "We think they're just bitter and petty over the fact that Hekapoo's not around anymore." Meteora continued.

"We don't think there's any connection between them and...everything else..." Mariposa picked up.

"Yeah...that..." And of course this helped bring everyone full circle back to the pressing issue at hand. "Okay, so...you said it was a crystal that you found? That transformed into the wand?" Mariposa and Meteora nodded. "Okay, but...how did that happen? You just said that the MHC isn't around, nor Glossaryck, nor the Realm of Magic. How does magic even work this time around!?"

Cassandra once again stepped forward. "I've been doing my own investigating on the side. Now, tell me, when you tried to destroy the magic in the Magic Realm, who was directly responsible?"

"You mean who used the Whispering Spell? Let's see...that was me, my mom, Eclipsa, and...Meteora." In the background, Meteora's eyes shot wide open. She had actually forgotten that she too was a part of the group that destroyed the magic in the Magic Realm that first time. "Why?

"So that makes four...yes, it's just as I suspected." She approached Star & stuck her hand out, asking for the wand. Star complied & carefully handed it over; Cassandra directed their attention to the diamond-shaped crystal that stuck in the middle of the Butterfly-wing shape of the wand. "See this crystal? There are exactly _four_ of these scattered throughout the multiverse, each of the containing magical power equivalent to that of _ten_ Realms of Magic."

"Have they _always_ been around?" Eclipsa asked her.

"I don't believe so. I believe they only materialized following the destruction of the Solarian magic."

"Time-out!" Marco yelled, raising his hand. "Let me get this straight: these four crystals - obviously meant to represent the four people who were solely responsible for destroying the magic the first time - didn't even show up until after Star used the whispering spell on Mina & Queen Solaria back in our world." The irony was not lost on any of them. But while they decided it wasn't worth the effort to dwell on it Marco couldn't let it go. "Am I the only one that's bothered by the symbolic inconsistencies?"

"Marco, it's _magic_." Star replied in rather deadpanned, annoyed tone. "Expecting magic to make sense is like expecting Advanced Calculus to make sense." She had to take a moment to compose herself before she flew off the handle. "Alright, so there's...four crystals. If Mariposa has one, and Manfred has one, that means there's two left unaccounted for."

Cassandra ever-so-slowly raised her hand once more. "..._One_."

Yet again, agape mouths from everyone. Cassandra carefully reached towards her hair bun and felt around. Eventually she grabbed onto what appeared to be an ordinary stick, but upon pulling it out - and in the process letting her hair down - it was discovered that it wasn't just an ordinary stick that held her hair bun together, but another magic wand. This one's design was vastly different from the other two; this one resembled that of a sunflower, with yellow & gold pedals, a dark green, curvy handle, and a green charger that resembled the shape of a leave, as well as a beiged-colored, circle-shaped crystal dead in the center of the top piece.

"You too!?" Star yelled, gazing in awe at the design of Cassandra's wand.

"And when were you going to tell _us_!?" Meteora roared, justifiably upset at this revelation.

"I was hoping all of this would be solved before I ever had to." Cassandra replied.

"And when did you even _find_ this wand?"

"...It was only shortly after I discovered that magic itself had returned."

"And when did _that_ happen?" Star was also quite eager for some answers. And it was time for Cassandra to provide some.

* * *

_**[Flashback]**_

_**It was just another typical day in Echo Creek, Earthni. Outside Cassandra Cher's building, Star, her mother Moon, & Cassandra were exiting gracefully; Star had just completed another productive therapy session with her. It was the day before Star's impromptu yoga session in the park - and the day after her insane body-destroying sleep-helping stunt came to an end - and she was more eager than before to get started.**_

_**"Thank you so much Ms. Cher." Moon happily said as she embraced her daughter.**_

_**"Always a pleasure." Cassandra was always delighted to help out Star and her loved ones however she could, and she always did everything in her power to create a comfortable & open environment, one that was free of hostility or judgement. Unfortunately, this time, it was not meant to be. As Moon & Star were starting their trek back to the castle, in the distance came a crew of hostile voices. More specifically, the group of Angry Mewmans vehemently opposed to monsters receiving equal treatment to mewmans of any kind. And they were not afraid to let their disdain be known.**_

_**"Hey look, it's the monster lovers!" One of them yelled in Moon & Star's direction. "So...what liberties are you taking away from us this time and giving to those monsters!?"**_

_**Under normal circumstances, Star would let their harsh words seep into her mind & gnaw at her. But today, her spirits were elevated to a place they hadn't been in a long time. She took a deep breath, turned her back to them, lifted her head up, and continued walking. Moon, despite feeling the rage bubble underneath her skin, chose also to keep her mouth shut and follow her daughter. Cassandra, on the other hand, wasn't as interested in staying quiet.**_

_**"Don't you folks have better things to do with your time?" She sternly said to them, crossing her arms like a disappointed mother. "Don't you find it the least bit exhausting that you spend all of your time degrading & harassing that lovely young lady?"**_

_**"And who are you supposed to be? Her mom or something?"**_

_**"We're just trying to make her learn, that's all!" Another one of them spouted out.**_

_**"No, you're trying to intimidate her, and I can assure you you're going to fail!" **_

_**The same Mewman looked around frantically and found a rock by his foot. He picked it up and prepared to throw it. "Fail this, lady!" He chucked the rock at Cassandra, who prepared herself to catch it. However, just as it was a mere foot away from her face, something happened...**_

_**The rock literally exploded right where it was, smashing into a million tiny pieces and leaving Cassandra unharmed. The development, completely out of the woodwork, caused the angry mewmans to drop their jaws. They couldn't believe what they just saw. Cassandra couldn't believe what she just saw. Even though it was just a rock, one that merely exploded into tiny, tiny pieces, it was apparently enough to confuse & scare the mewmans off, and off they ran in a frenzy, leaving Cassandra by herself to contemplate.**_

_**Of course, while she didn't know exactly what had just transpired, she already had a strong, growing suspicion, suspicions that only further grew with what happened next: while she was briefly looking away, a piece of laminated paper hooked to a string was flung her way. This paper had a draw of Mariposa's new wand design on it, one that was slowly being reeled away from her. Curious, she followed it step by step.**_

**_Meanwhile, right by her building - cloaked in an invisibility spell & a spell that let her keep her Neverzone age - stood Mariposa, who was responsible for causing the rock that nearly hit Cassandra to explode. In turn, it was Meteora - under the same sets of spells - who was reeling the picture of the wand away, leading Cassandra to where they needed her to go._**

**_Eventually, it got to where the reeling stopped, and upon stopping, Cassandra noticed the dimension-portaling ray gun that the Lucitors had built lying at her feet. Despite never having used it prior, as well as feeling it to be an ethical violation since it was technically Star's, she still fired it anyway. Where did it lead her? None other than the Neverzone; specifically, the area in which Mariposa & Meteora were using to store & protect the new wand._**

**_[End Flashback]_**

* * *

"I was led here to this very room by these two," Cassandra finished, referring to Meteora and Mariposa. "That's when I discovered magic was still around."

"Do you think there's any correlation between...this new uprising in magic and...and whatever the heck we encountered on our treasure hunt?" Mariposa asked her, referring specifically to the creatures that kept referring to the "prophecy" and how Hekapoo was killed.

"I couldn't say at the moment with any certainty. It's plausible given that the first of these magical crystals was located in the Neverzone, but it could easily be a mere coincidence."

"Well, time _does_ move differently in here than it does on Earthni. It's been about...almost four months since magic was destroyed again. That's about...I don't know, three to four million years in Neverzone time?" Star proposed.

"You'd think they'd have gotten over it by now..." Marco chipped in.

"Which brings me to my next question: where did _you_ find _your_ wand?" Star turned to Cassandra. Time for another flashback...

* * *

_**[Flashback]**_

_**As quickly as she had entered the portal leading to the Neverzone, she exited it and returned to her office, checking back multiple times to ensure that she wasn't being followed. Upon reached her office, she locked the door behind her and took a deep breath. The existential crisis the revelations of magic's return were bound to bring raced through her mind. She swung her vision slowly around the office, eventually settling on her desk. She approached and pulled out one of the drawers. Inside this drawer rested a single item - a glass box containing what appeared to be a light yellow, sloppy circle-shaped crystal. **_

_**"...Only one way to find out." She quietly said to herself as she slowly opened the glass box. The crystal's bright color radiated from where it sat. All of the thoughts & questions Cassandra had for the object that sat before her could fill the entire room with sentient beings if that were a plausible scenario. In one fell swoop, she put her right hand over the crystal, clenched her fist, and lifted it out. Almost as quickly, the object began to transform. Its shaped morphed into a sunflower-esque shape, with a squiggly-like handle and a sunflower for the base, with the crystal right in the middle of it. Another new wand had been created.**_

_**She took a quick gander around before putting her hair up and using the wand as a sort of clip for it, with the sunflower sticking out on her left side.**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

* * *

"Your wand was just...sitting in your drawer, all casual and such?" Star wasn't quite buying it.

"Well, not exactly. I bought it from a swap meet some time ago. I had no idea it was of magical origins, and I don't think the merchant that sold it to me knew either."

"So it was just a bunch of dumb luck."

"Isn't that magic boiled down to its essence?" Marco interjected, feeling particularly smarmy at the moment. But Star decided he was worth ignoring for the time being.

"Okay, so that's Mariposa's wand and your wand we have covered. Now...about _Manfred_'s wand..."

"...We don't actually know yet where he got it from..." Mariposa jumped in, having grabbed Meteora's hand with her free hand for comfort.

"But you guys seemed _completely_ prepared to take him out back there. You, like, showed up out of nowhere and blocked his assault on us."

"Well yeah we were _prepared_ for him, that doesn't mean we know squat about what's going on with him." Meteora added. "At least...we think we do."

"What do _you_ guys think is going on?"

The trifecta - Cassandra, Meteora, and Mariposa - all exchanged silent looks for a moment. Yet again they'd have to peel back the curtains. "Well...okay, so we know that Manfred was nowhere to be found when magic came back the first time. You know, when the Magic High Commission turned out to be a bunch of irredeemable traitors."

"Yeah I got that." Star was in no mood to relieve those 48 hours any more than she had to.

"We suspect that maybe he came out of the shadows after Mina was killed & is trying to exact revenge or something. Maybe he wants things to go back tot he way things were before the cleaving." Cassandra explained.

"I wonder if he even knows that Mina's dead." Meteora added. "Or that magic was even destroyed...or, I guess it really _wasn't_..."

"He has a magic wand that can cast spells, he probably has no idea what happened beyond Earth and Mewni merging together." Star also added.

"I suppose that brings up another question..." River leaped into the conversation again. "How long has he been back? Has he always been around, simply lurking in the background?"

"And what about that group of angry, bitter mewmans that we keep running into?" Marco proposed.

"You think they could be working with Manfred?"

"I don't know, maybe?"

"So even after every ordeal we have already suffered through, we are still finding ourselves worried for our safety & well-being from people who don't like change." Globgor lamented.

"The more things change, the more things stay the same." Was Cassandra's response to his statement. Neither of them were wrong. "Of course, we can't tell at the present moment if there is any sort of coordination between that group and Manfred."

"For all we know, it's two separate entitires with similar goals & ambitions." Meteora said.

"With how hostile those mewmans actually are, somehow I just...doubt that." Star, however, was not convinced. "It just makes too much sense for them to work together." Once again Star turned her vision back to the other three. "So we don't know where Manfred got his wand...and you guys said you were "prepared" for him...what does that even mean?"

Another uncomfortable truth incoming...

* * *

_**[Flashback]**_

_**In another part of town, having dispersed the teens for the day, Cassandra found herself walking alone back towards her office. For her, her work continued relentlessly. But little did she know she wasn't alone. She passed by a set of bushes on her way, and in one of them popped out a scrawny head and a set of beady eyes and a long nose. A royal outfit torn & damaged, dirtied up from months spent on the outside. The beady eyes followed Cassandra as she passed by & kept on walking, a clout of suspicion racing through the air. This wasn't just any ordinary stalker. It was the last remnance of Mina Loveberry's wrath before her demise, the last droplet of the old regime of hate & bigotry. The only person that saw fit to actually depart with Mina after the magic was destroyed before being separated from her due to her own obsession & decompartmentalization.**_

_**It was Manfred, much worse for the wear. He eyed Cassandra as she approached her building & let herself in. The gears in his head were turning something fierce, speeding up with each step he took towards the building. As he approached the front door, every train of thought he had at that point was going in every different direction conceivable. Finally he somehow managed to work up the nerve to knock on the door. A moment of uncomfortable silenced passed by before Cassandra finally opened it. **_

_**"...Oh, hello. Can I help you?" Despite these six words, she knew exactly who Manfred was. As a self-proclaimed Mewni historian, it was her job to know who he was. And as a licensed mental health professional, it was her obligation to help this man even if she wasn't fond of him. "Are you here to schedule an appointment?"**_

_**He raised a suspicious eyebrow. "...Appointment? Oh...sure."**_

_**"Wonderful. Please come in and we'll get you set up." Against her better judgement, she led Manfred inside and into her office. "So...quickly, tell me what it is you believe you need to work on."**_

_**"Well..." He started, clearing putting on a show while she had her back turned to him. "I'm finding myself having trouble adjusting to...the new normal."**_

_**"That's quite understandable. It's a massive shake-up to the status quo, and I can assure you you're hardly the only one struggling."**_

_**"I don't know what it is..." He slowly tip-toed towards her, a menacing look crossing his face. One hand was going for his pocket, the other was going for her shoulder. "I just have so much trouble accepting the world around me: monsters and my people interacting without hostility, the gigantic shake-up of the political spectrum, the return of magic..."**_

_**"It's always important to remember this is a slow, arduous transition. It's okay to feel like things don't-" Her heart skipped a beat once it sunk in what he had said. She turned around aggressively to see him but an inch from her. "What was that last part?"**_

_**The sinister smile on his face grew as he drew even closer, preparing himself for a strike...**_

_**=Break=**_

_**...only for it to backfire.**_

_**Some time later, she regathered Mariposa & Meteora in an open field, where they discovered that she had knocked Manfred unconscious by simply touching a pressure point on his neck.**_

_**"...You killed him." Was the first thing Meteora was able to say once she examined his body. This, of course, was categorically untrue.**_

_**"He's only unconscious. I touched a pressure point, nothing more."**_

_**Meteora lightly kicked Manfred, which produced nothing. "...You killed him." She repeated even more bluntly, which earned an eyeroll from Cassandra.**_

_**"How the hell does he know that magic's back?!" Mariposa exclaimed.**_

_**"And what the hell do we do now!?" Meteora added.**_

_**"For one, don't panic."**_

_**"A little late, in all honesty!"**_

_**"We have to keep this under wraps as long as we possibly can. For now, we just have to leave him behind & prepare contingency plans. We have to find the remainder of those magical crystals before anyone else does!" Without another word, the three quietly took off to evade suspicion, leaving an unconscious Manfred in the forest. In hindsight, probably not the best idea...**_

_**[End Flashback]**_

* * *

"Why didn't you finish him off when you had the chance?" Marco asked them.

Meteora shrugged. "I was under the impression that we had."

"I _told_ you he wasn't dead, I only subdued him!" Cassandra barked.

"And obviously that wasn't a smart choice, now was it!?"

"Yeah, and now who knows what kind of havoc he's causing back on Earthni while we're all here just shooting the breeze!?" It took a moment for the obvious fault in her logic to sink in for Star. "Ohhhh wait wait wait, sorry, my bad, i-it's the Neverzone. Time...time moves differently...in the-in the Neverzone..." And just as the logic sunk in for Star, her body itself sunk to the ground, with a hand going to her chest, clutching it hard. The chest pains were back with a vengence. Everyone converged on Star to console her.

"It's okay, sweetheart, just breathe..." Moon cooed her; her motherly instincts were far sharper now than just a few months earlier.

"Owwww!" She loudly groaned. "Feels like there's something in my heart trying to break out, like a cage."

"It's alright, deary, we're all here..."

"I thought it was over, though..."

"What do you mean?"

She strained to open her eyes & face her mother. "W-When we were checking out the Monster Temple, I-I have a scare. My chest was throbbing & I-I couldn't breathe. But then, just out of the blue...it was gone. My chest was fine, my heart was fine...it was like nothing ever happened."

"Wasn't that the same day _we_ were investigating & looking for the magical crystals?" Meteora blindly piped up; it was only then that the lightbulbs started to go off. "Wait a minute...it _was_..."

"Wait, what are you talking about now?" Marco asked her.

"We-We were there at the temple that day. We were doing our own investigating." Mariposa explained. "We were right next to Star when she had her scare."

"Wait, you were _there_!?" Star shrieked. "We didn't see you anywhere!"

"We were cloaked in an invisibility spell."

Star had to do a literal double take. "Invisibility spell? How long have you _had_ that wand, exactly?"

Mariposa hesitated for a moment. "I don't know, maybe...three months, give or take?"

"Three months. And you're already way better at magic than I ever wa-you know what? I think I kind of hate you right now."

"Not the point, hon." Marco rolled his eyes playfully at his girlfriend. "I think what we're getting at is..."

"_Is_ magic the culprit to Star's ongoing physical health woes?" Cassandra stepped back into the conversation, but unfortunately, her response of a shrug did nothing to quell their concerns. "Unfortunately, I don't believe that's the case."

"Are you _sure_?" As Star posed the question, Mariposa approached her and held her wand right up to Star's chest; the wand glowed a bright, forceful, sustained glow. "Because when Glossaryck made us that healing potion, Marco got the lost of it. I only got whatever backwash was left from kissing him. I can't imagine that those few little droplets would be enough to fix that torture spell Mina put us under. Plus if they were standing next to me at the Temple while I was having my episode a-and Mariposa had the wand-"

"Ah, magic's potential is truly limitless, isn't it?" Cassandra looked over at Mariposa, who woefully shook her head at her before turning to Star & the others and doing the same.

"So if I'm understand this, you're saying that all of this is just..." Star clutched her chest and winced, dreading the next answer to come from Cassandra.

"It's all extreme stress, my dear. Everything you put yourself through physically, mentally, emotionally, over the past year and change...it's all caught up with you."

"And my heart is paying the price for it." Star loudly sighed. "Wow, you guys were right. I _really_ don't handle stress well at all."

"...Certainly far worse than I do..." Moon lamented, patting Star's shoulder before bringing her in for a hug. "Hang in there, dear. We're get through this, just like we get through everything."

"Guess you're glad we put you on that indefinite "staycation" now, aren't you?" Marco hugged Star before he realized the tone of his voice was way wrong. "That sounded a lot more smug that I intended."

"So..." Star groaned, standing herself back up and taking a deep breath. "I guess there's only one question left to answer: what do we do _now_? Where do we even go from here?"

"We know that there's still one magical crystal out there that has been unclaimed. It's imperative that we find it before Manfred or any other adversary finds it."

"Why are you specifically name-dropping Manfred?" Eclipsa asked her.

"Each of us is in possession of one crystal, each containing incredible amounts of magic to use. If Manfred were to get a hold of that other crystal and be in possession of _two_ magic wands...there's no telling what kind of calamity would await the multiverse. We have to prevent that from happening, and then we have to figure out where in the multiverse we can hide these crystals so that they never fall into the wrong hands again."

"What do we do in the meantime?"

"My advice: Keep your eyes and ears peeled out there. We have to be ready for anything. Meanwhile, the three of us will keep our eyes & ears peeled out on our end. If the need arises for us to dig down into the abyss, we'll be in contact. Listen for our code phrase: _The Fools Grovel At Dusk._"

"That sounds like you're trying a little bit too hard to be pretentious." Star commented, eliciting a chuckle from Cassandra, who didn't hesitate to capture Star's undivided attention once more.

"Just remember, my dear: this isn't on you. It's not your burden to carry alone."

"She's right, my love." Moon stepped in; everyone else moved out of the way allowing Moon to pick up her child & hug her. "You won't have to do it alone anymore. We're all going to have your back this time."

"...But-"

"No, no arguments. I should have stayed behind when you offered to help Eclipsa. I should have seen the forest through the trees. I won't make that mistake again."

"_We _won't" River barged in, also joining in hugging his daughter. "I could have spoken up as well. Now is an opportunity for us to correct that mistake."

Star couldn't help but sniffle back the oncoming tears. Once again her family was proving that they had learned from their past mistakes and were stepping up big time to assist her in her time of need. "I don't know what to say. Thanks, Mom...thanks, Dad..." Another brief moment of silence passed before they finally put her down and let her compose herself. "Guess there's only one thing left to do. Let's go confront Manfred."

"I agree with Star." Marco cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "Let's go get 'em."

With a fortified resolve, the group - including Mariposa and Meteora cloaked in a magic shield that kept their age - all headed back to Earthni through a portal created by Cassandra's wand. When they returned, they saw that everything was indeed how it was left, minus the other guests, who had been returned back to their respective homes by Mariposa's wand. The only exception was Manfred, who was still up against the wall he had been knocked against. Led by Star, the group marched towards Manfred as he slowly began to regain consciousness. His blurry eyes finally opened & saw them all standing but an inch away.

"Hello, Manfred." Star said with her hands firmly on her hips. "Long time no see, huh?" The former servant said nothing. His eyes darted back and forth between characters. "Surrender the wand, and nobody has to get hurt."

But he was in no mood to surrender. It a heist, he screamed, held up his wand, and unleashed a powerful magic, one that...made him disappear. Yup, Manfred was gone. To where? Who knew. All that was important at the moment was that he was nowhere around to cause trouble to them or to the castle. And all magical indications pointed to him not being anywhere near the Monster Temple either. A promising development for them...for now, at least...

* * *

Later that night, in Star's room, Star & Marco were readying themselves for bed...and also for "bed." After the eventful day they had been a part of, it was time to unwind, get lost in each other's eyes, and set sail on another conquest. "How're you holding up?" Marco asked his girlfriend, noticing her slight wince as she readjusted herself under the covers.

"I...don't really know." She admitted, scooching closer to him and allowing him to embrace her. "Lots of stuff to digest..."

"What's bugging you the most? Let's start there."

A good question, but what could the answer possibly be? After a moment, she finally settled on one. "...my heart."

"Is it hurting you again? Remember your breathing t-"

"No no no not like that. I mean...you heard them. It's not a magical ailment. Or at least it's nothing something that magic can outright cure. It's not a lingering side effect of only getting a tiny bit of the healing spell, it's extreme stress on my mind and body that _I_ caused, and I-I guess I'm _still_ causing."

"No one _blames_ you for this, you know. You went through a crap ton of stuff and you had to do so much of it by yourself. Now it's just a matter of trying to build yourself back up, both physically _and_ mentally."

"So that's why you and everyone has been pushing for this staycation thing to last a long time..." The staycation thing was always a bit of a sticking point for her. She appreciated the gesture at all times, but most times she felt unworthy of the attention, and at other times presumed it was meant to be a trick trying to "scuff her out" or something to that degree. "Am I still on it?"

Marco didn't hesitate a millisecond; he proudly nodded. "Yes you are. And you'll have a day of spoiling tomorrow from all of us to prove it."

Despite her reservations, she still proudly smiled. "Thanks. But now what do we do about Manfred, o-or even the magic?"

"Here's what we're gonna do..." He gently grabbed her cheeks and smushed them, bringing her in and kissing her like there was no tomorrow. "We're gonna sleep tonight, we're gonna wake up tomorrow with clear heads, and we're gonna tackle whatever this world throws at us. We've dealt with worse before, and we got through it just fine. We'll get through this too. I promise."

With a fortified resolve, she leaned in & kissed him again, this time far stronger. "You're right. We will."

"The two of us are gonna conquer anything that comes in our way. Marco Diaz and his Rock Star."

"I'll kiss to _that_." And yet another kiss ensued, just in time for the two to get comfy and prepare for lift off. With all the stresses that consumed them, for these brief times, all was right in their world. "Oh, and...Marco?"

"...Yes?" He said as he stopped himself just before he engaged in an endless squeeze fest of her tush.

"...I still like "Bubble Butt" better."

He just had to laugh at that. Her insistence on using that as his nickname for her was nothing short of legendary, but it still entertained him. It didn't hurt that he himself had warmed up to it too. "That's okay. So do I." And him admitting that put a huge smile on her face as they happily engaged. Their quest for an all-night experience continued to elude them, but their determination would not be beaten. And that's exactly the attitude they would carry with them to any challenge that life wished to throw at them.

* * *

**End of Episode 28!**

**And it's finally done! Apologies for this taking so long, but life here is hectic as heck at the moment. The house move, work, and now also potentially jury duty. That's fun. But at least this chapter is finally done. Once again, can't say for sure when the next one will be up, but the story is far from over. Manfred's back in the picture, and he's not screwing around. Buckle up, friends.**

**And as always, please read & review :D**


	29. The More Things Change

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 29: The More Things Change**

**Episode Summary: While Manfred continues to plot his next move with his newfound magic wand, Star must instill a very important lesson in the orphan children about the wonders of change.**

**Original Release Date: October 12, 2020**

* * *

Deep into the woods, in a mostly abandoned hut, Manfred stood idly near a mostly barren wall, staring intently into it, almost staring through it. The wand was held tightly in his right hand. Beside him sat familiar faces; more specifically, it was the group of angry mewmans that previously conspired to throw Star's father, River, into the brig, framing him for a crime worse than the one he debatably committed already. Though they had been rightfully sent to prison for their actions, they were bailed out quickly and retrieved from the clutches of the slammer. Yes, it was Manfred who was responsible for the breakout. But it came with a cost, one that was about to reveal itself to these mewmans.

"So...um...you got, like, food or something here?" One of them piped up, the weight of their situation having not yet slammed onto them.

"Do you know why I bailed you out of the slammer?" Manfred spoke, not moving a single muscle. The tone and vigor in his voice immediately got the mewmans' attention. He was not screwing around.

"Wait...that was you?" Despite the fact that Manfred was now in possession of a powerful magic wand, it was not actually the method of choice he went with to bail out the mewmans from prison. Subterfuge was the name of the game, somehow coming into contact with enough Earth money to bail them out before their own trials, while also going the extra step - this time _with_ magic - to erase their existence from the memories of everyone who would've been responsible for prosecuting & convicting them.

"Who _else_ would come to the defense of you people? You burned your credibility once your sloppy little charade was so thoroughly exposed."

"We was just trying to make those people pay for what they did!"

"Yeah, life was all cozy and simple and stuff before they just _had_ to turn on us and start cozying up to those _monsters_, blegh!" The second angry mewman feigned vomit to emphasize his point.

"I sympathize with your plight, I truly do. But guess what? Your plan failed."

"So what, we're failures in your eyes?" One could cut the tension in the room with a sword.

"I wouldn't say "failures." Simpletons, maybe..."

"Alright, smart mouth, we're not gonna take this. We're gone." The group quickly collected themselves & proceeded towards the door. They were intent on leaving...but Manfred had other plans. With a flick of his wrist, his wand activated, slamming the door right in front of them just before they could leave. And the door didn't just shut; it shut with such a violent impact that others residing in the forest questioned where the noise came from.

"That's cute...you think you have a choice." In a sinister fashion, Manfred slowly turned around to face the mewmans, an evil grin having crossed his face. The shock & horror on the mewmans' faces gave it all away. This was truly an unexpected twist. As far as they had been concerned, magic was dead and buried forever. There was none of it left. Oh how wrong they were, and this didn't even scratch the surface. "Let's get this straight right away: you don't."

"Hey, what's the big idea, punk!?" One of them loudly yelled in Manfred's direction.

"Excuse me? _I'm_ the one that freed your sorry butts from the slammer. I'm the one that rigged the system so that they've forgotten your little stunt. As far as you're concerned, I _own_ you until I decide I don't!"

The mewman scoffed. That was a colossal mistake. "Own us? Who do you think you are-"

Manfred demonstrated just how big of a mistake it was by using his wand to completely contort the mewman's body. Literally every single joint in his body bent in the exact wrong way. The ear-shattering screams the mewman let out in response caught the rest of the group off guard and even terrorized one of them into a fetal position. There was discipline, and then there was...this. There was ruling with an iron fist, and then there was single-mindedly traumatizing the people you intended to court as servants to your master plan. Manfred was not here to show mercy. He was all business.

"Let's try this again, shall we? _I_ freed your behinds from prison. Until I say otherwise, you're all _my_ property! _**IS THAT CLEAR**_!?" He bellowed those last three words so loudly it nearly caused them all to soil themselves. They all nodded their heads rapidly, even the one with his body contorted in every conceivable direction. Once Manfred was finally satisfied with their sniveling, he let up on the magic, allowing the mewman's body to return to its normal shape. The torture might've been over, but the pain still remained. "Now...onto business. First order...**_kill_** the Butterfly family, and all of these patronizing little supporters!"

That seemed to get their attention, just not for the reasons Manfred hoped for. "Whoa whoa whoa...time out. Kill? Who said anything about kill!?"

Manfred contorted his face into a harsh scowl; he wasn't amused. "_I_ just did." He slowly brought his wand up to this mewman's chin. "Is that a problem?"

"Kinda, man. Like, we're not trying to kill those punks. We don't wanna take blood! We just want to embarrass them, make them admit that this whole "our people get along with those evil monsters" thing was a giant mistake! We just want to shame them!"

"And maybe make them cry, too!" Another one yelled out. "That little girl, the one that gave everything away, she...she's got, like, issues and stuff. She-She cries a lot more now and she's, like, depressed and crap." Truly a low blow for this group. But even with this statement put out there for Manfred to behold, he wasn't taking the bait. He was completely unamused, and he showed it by once again flexing his magic, again contorting the mewman's body into a shape that had not yet been discovered by scientists. A furious, agonizing scream followed. More horror emanating from the others in the group...until Manfred decided to show them the same punishment. Even louder screams of agony.

"_Who's_ running the show here?"

They grunted & struggled to utter a response; the pain was far too severe for any of them. "Y-Y-Y-You are..." One of them managed to eek out after several tries.

"That's right. And _**DON'T**_ make me remind you again." With a loud hiss & spitting fire, he finally relented on the magic, allowing their bodies to return to normal. The mewmans all collapsed onto the ground, cries and whines of agony following. A vile, despicable smile crossed Manfred's face. "Excellent..."

* * *

Meanwhile, it was a very special day at the Echo Creek Orphanage. Party decorations were in every room, there was cake & goodies being served in the kitchen, Ludo had been hired as the entertainer for the children...it was all coming together. And what was the special occasion?

"Lilly's been adopted?" Marco asked his extra hpapy girlfriend, who was busy giving one of the babies - Lilly - a good washing-up.

"Yup! We found her a forever home!" Star exclaimed excitedly, with Lilly imitating a celebration from where she sat. "The family's gonna be here any minute."

"And you all decided to throw a party?"

"Oh don't tell me you're worried that she's going to be offended or any of that mumbo jumbo."

"You don't think there's a chance of that happening?"

"It's not like we're here saying "yes! she's gone! Now everything is better!" No, I arranged this party because these kids are a family to each other. They've grown up together and have been through so much." She finished drying off Lilly & picked her up, carrying her out the door towards the staircase with Marco beside her. "We're not celebrating her leaving. We're celebrating _her_, and we're letting her know that no matter what happens or where she goes, we will always love her." She stepped down on the main floor and looked into Lilly's eyes. "Isn't that right my little Tooth Fairy?"

The little girl held her arms out, requesting a hug. Star didn't hesitate to oblige. "I guess that makes sense." Marco relented. "That reminds me, I gotta change. I'm doing the story time for the kids and I need to get into costume." He turned around and dashed back towards the bathroom. He just as quickly came back out dressed in his signature Princess Turdina outfit, ponytail and all. "Are you ready for storytime?" Marco asked Lilly once he returned. She babbled excitedly & nodded her head. "Story time!"

Marco took his place in the living room, gathering the children around him as he prepared to read a story to them. Ludo was also invited to listen in on the story. In the meantime, Star took this time to speak with Greta & Reggie, the two who ran the orphanage. "So...your first adoption." Reggie said, pouring Star a cup of tea. "How does it feel?"

"It feels good, actually." She replied with a sip. "I love these kids like they're my own, but I know this isn't supposed to be their forever home. Just a stop on their journey."

"I'll be honest, we were a little worried about that when we hired you. You're very close to them..."

"Doesn't mean I'm not happy to see them go off to forever homes that'll better take care of them and love them than we can. Actually, I've been...worried about her..." She was referring to Lilly. "I thought she would take it hard - leaving us and all - but that doesn't appear to be the case. She's in really good spirits." In the other room, she heard the pitter patter of baby Miles, holding a stuffed animal that belonged to him. He ran into the next adjacent room - where story time was being held - and ran up to a gift basket that was settled next to Lilly. This gift basket was filled with toys that the other children were giving to Lilly as goodbye gifts. Miles's stuffed animal was just the latest gift. Lilly, in a joyous rush, cheered the gift and reached her tiny arms out to hug Miles. The boy didn't hesitate to hug back.

"Tank ooh fren!" Lilly exclaimed as they tightened their grip on each other. It was more than enough to distract everyone - Marco included - and put them all in a cutesy trance.

"Curse you and your adorable nature!" Ludo exclaimed, wiping a tear from his eye and pretending he wasn't moved by this display. But before this could be called out by anyone meaningful, there was a knock at the front door. Star went to answer it; at the door stood a lovely, young couple - a man and woman, both of Asian descent - with eager smiles on their faces. They also had with them a baby Beagle at their side, all leashed up.

"Oh, you must be the Wongs!" Star exclaimed delightedly before taking a deep breath. "Nín hǎo, huānyíng lái dào wǒmen de jiā! [Hello! Welcome to our home!]" The couple was clearly impressed with Star's first impression. She would have continued...had she not noticed the Beagle. She recognized the dog right away. "Hi Rocky!" The dog, in turn, responding by jumping on Star & kissing her to death, tail wagging like nobody's business. "You adopted from the shelter! I work there, too." Eventually she scratched his ear long enough for him to calm down and sit. "You're right on time. Follow me, please." She led them into the story time room; the mere sound of their footsteps caused all the children, as well as Ludo & Marco, to turn to the doorway. The children, completely unprompted, started cheering & waving hello to the couple, immediately winning them over as well as the dog.

"They are so friendly." The woman said to Star with a laugh.

"Yes they are." She turned back to the kids. "Everybody, this is Hiroshi and Chung-Ae Wong, Lilly's adoptive parents." Lilly, upon hearing her name, perked up and stood up from her seat, her curiosity taking over. Marco put her book down and took Lilly's gift basket over to the parents, while the girl slowly waddled her way over to them. "That's right, Lilly. It's okay...they're friendly." One could see the gears in Lilly's head turning, trying anything to get the brain working. "Why don't you tell them your name?"

After a moment of whining, trying to eek out the words, something finally came to her. "...I-I'm Lilly..."

"You are _beyond_ precious." Hiroshi knelled down to pick the girl up and hold her in his arms. While he was holding Lilly, the other children - led of course by Miles - approached them, still happily waving to them. "Are these your friends?"

"Friends!" Miles yelled as the little Beagle puppy approached the baby, gave him a good sniff, then gently licked his forehead, causing an ear-splitting laugh to emit from the boy. Reggie & Greta entered the room.

"We just have some paperwork for you to fill out and you're all set." They led the family away temporarily, allowing the kids a chance to say goodbye to Lilly. Once everyone had their turn, Marco picked up the gift basket and headed for the door, while Star took Lilly's hand and readied for them to head out.

"Are you excited?" Star asked the girl, who nodded her head rapidly & laughed. While Star was originally leading Lilly, quickly enough Lilly took charge & started walking towards the door, still holding Star's hand, effectively leading her out the door. "Whoa, easy easy. No need to hurry."

But it was no use. The baby was too caught up in her excitement. Once they approached the car parked out in front, she pointed to the door in an eager manner, babbling happily to her. Star brushed it off like it was nothing. "Car!"

"Yes, you cutie, that's a car." Star could never pass up an opportunity to play along with the kids. She opened the door to the passenger seat, picked up Lilly, and secured her safely in the baby seat. "You're gonna go to your new home, you're gonna be taken care of by these wonderful people, you're gonna have a new puppy to play with...aren't you excited?"

"YEAH!" She clapped her hands in delight, the feelings of joy overwhelming her. Just behind Star came Marco, the kids, Reggie, Greta, and the Wong family. As this happened, Lilly pointed to the empty passenger seat next to her.

"Oh, you're so silly..." At first, Star didn't put it together. "That's where the dog is going to sit. What? You don't think I'm coming with you, do you?" And that's when it happened. Lilly giggled & kept a brave face for a brief moment. But as Star remained silent, the weight of her words started to sink in. As they did, so did Lilly's face. The once elated, happy face that stuck with Lilly was slowly being replaced with a face of utter dread, disappointment, and heart break. And that's when it started to sink in for Star, likewise. "Lilly, sweetheart...you know I'm not coming with you, don't you?"

Star would have loved to believe that Lilly understood this fact and was at peace with it. But that was not the case. Not only did Lilly not understand it, but the sheer agony on her face ripped Star's heart to shreds, especially once Lilly became so frantic she managed to unbuckle herself and take off for the orphanage, sprinting past everybody and wailing as loudly as she could, eventually settling herself in the upstairs bedroom.

"...I guess that's a 'no.'" Marco meekly said, somberly mourning Lilly's heartbreak. Star turned to the visibly distressed family.

"I-I'm sorry about that. She was really excited for it this morning..."

"What now?" Reggie asked out loud. A shattered reaction from Lilly was not a scenario any of them were prepared for. They had to think fast to salvage the impending adoption.

"Let me try something." Marco insisted. He went back inside - with everyone following closely behind. Marco made his way carefully towards the room. As calmly as he possibly could, he knocked on the door. "Lilly?" Only the sounds of her sniffling back tears could be heard. "It's Princess Turdina. Can I come in?" No answer came, but the door knob still turned, so Marco let himself in, everyone else staying close behind. Inside the room they found Lilly, crying on the floor and holding a Star doll in her arms.

"Friends..." She eeked out before devolving into more sniffling.

"Hey..." Marco said sweetly as he slowly approached her. "I like that Star doll." Talking about Star always got the children to smile. "You love Star a lot, don't you?" Lilly quietly nodded her head. The kids and their unwavering love for Star constantly left everyone in awe. He knelled down and patted her head, which elicited a slight giggle from her. "Are you worried that she's not going to be your friend anymore? Or that _we_ won't be your friend anymore?" She inquisitively looked up at him straight in the eye and began whimpering. And there lied the answer.

Star, overcome by Lilly's loving nature, made her way into the room and sat down next to the baby, picking her up in a hug. "Awww, you scamp..." One couldn't truly stay upset at her. "You don't have to worry about that." Lilly calmly whimpered again in confusion. "Just because you're moving into a nice, new home doesn't mean you and I are going to stop being friends. And it doesn't mean you're going to lose all your other friends either."

She slightly cocked her head, clear and visible confusion reigning from her facial contortions. "...No friends?"

"Of course we'll still be your friends. We love you. You moving doesn't change that." She stood up, picked Lilly up off the ground - which elicited another laugh from her - and turned her to face the Wong family, who were standing at the door with their dog and smiling warmly. "Sure, they're strangers to you now. But strangers are just friends you haven't made yet. And when you all love each other and have each other's back, there's no better friends to have then your own family. And okay, sure, _we're_ no less of a family than they are, but still..." She briefly turned to Marco. "Am I making sense?"

Marco chuckled. "You are to me." He got Lilly's attention again. "What Star's saying is...we love you, and we always will. But now these nice folks want to love you like we do. Look at it this way: you're going to have all the attention to yourself instead of having to share it with the others. You're getting a puppy!" He pointed to the dog, which got instantly excited, which in turn got more laughs out of Lilly. "And best of all, you're getting your very own house!" While she still wasn't entirely sold on the idea, she was slowly coming around to it, her face expressing intrigue at the idea rather than complete heartbreak.

But just as they thought things were starting to turn around, a new wrinkle was thrown into the mix: Miles tugged on Marco's dress & got his attention. "Can I see?"

Star & Marco turned to each and shrugged at each other before returning to address Miles. "Can you see what, sweetie?" Star asked him.

"The house!" He shouted frantically. "I wanna see the house!" His ploy quickly revealed itself to them; he was acting like a protector of sorts to Lilly; if the house wasn't good enough for her, it wasn't good enough for him, and vise versa. Soon enough, the other children made their way into the room and echoed a similar sentiment. Everyone aww'd at the sight. It was truly precious.

"Marco..." Star was starting to get an idea. From the looks of Marco's face, he was getting the same idea. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so." The boy again turned to Lilly. "Lilly, why don't we have the babies come with us and check the house out? If they like the house and say it's okay, will you go with the nice family?"

A fascinating proposition. However, Lilly was still hesitant to go through with it. She didn't want to lose her friends, an idea that everyone sympathized with.

"Well, let's give it a shot, okay?" Star pleaded. "It's going to work out, I promise." She stood up and turned to the other babies. "Hey kids," She bellowed, garnering their attention. "Who wants to go on a field trip?"

'Field Trip' those were the two magic words. The children all erupted in joy, while Greta & Reggie sneaked past them & approached Star; she whispered the proposal to them quietly, and before she even finished, they highly approved of the plan.

* * *

In a hurry, the kids were all packed up into the orphanage minivan, while Lilly was packed up & put into the Wong family car. Star decided to ride with Lilly, while Marco rode with the other kids. "Trust me, Lilly, you are going to _love_ your new home." She said to the girl next to her. Although Lilly was still skeptical, her crying had subsided with Star by her side. The dog was in between them, acting as a protector of sorts for Lilly. "It's roomy, it's beautiful, it's amazing...it's going to blow your tiny mind."

The cars all pulled up into a parking lot and shut off. That's right, as quickly as they had left the orphanage, they had arrived at their destination. The sudden stopping of the car caused confusion in the baby's tiny head. As it turned out, Lilly's new home was a mere three blocks away from the orphanage. Very close, and much closer than ever Star was anticipating. "Huh, guess we're here already."

Everyone exited their respective cars and carefully made their way to the front door. The Wongs took charge, unlocking the door and opening it. The children, minus Lilly, all gently entered the premises and started to explore the place, happily babbling to themselves. They didn't touch anything; they only stared in awe at the majesty of the home before them. It was a simple home; a living room, an adjacent kitchen, and a second story with two bedrooms and a bathroom. There was also a garage on the driveway. It wasn't a huge house, but it was roomier than the orphanage, and much livelier as well. The Wongs were downright shocked at how well behaved the other children were.

Lilly was the last of the children to enter; holding Star's hand, and with Marco closely behind, Lilly took steps into the house and gazed all around her. Slowly but surely, the scope of the house on the first floor sunk into her brain. Star was right, it _was_ a much larger place than the orphanage. And this was only the first floor! Who knows what awaited them on the second floor? But before that, they had to check out the backyard. They were all brought outside to see that the backyard was as large and open as one's eye could see. The kids all took advantage of them by running around aimlessly and playing with the dog, while Lilly stayed before to once again allow her brain to register the information before her.

"Pretty big yard, isn't it?" Marco said, coming up right behind her and patting her shoulder. "Isn't this bigger than the play areas at the orphanage?" After a moment's hesitation, she turned to face Marco & nodded at him. Slowly but surely she was warming up to this new place. "You can play with your new doggy as much as you want out here. You're gonna have a blast." He gently picked up the little girl and started bringing her back inside. "Wanna see your new room?" She curiously nodded, so he obliged & brought her up the staircase towards one of the closed doors. "You ready?" With Star backing her up now, she furiously nodded her head. He turned the knob and flung the door open. "Ta-da!"

To say that the room was massive display of everything that made Lilly who she was was the understatement of the year. It was decorated to precisely reflect her personality. That meant Tooth Fairy decorations hung up everywhere, pink bedsheets & pillows, a princess motif all over the walls, toys & stuffed animals laying everywhere...it was truly a sight to see. Without even a second thought, Lilly's eyes lit up like there was no tomorrow and she began squealing in delight. Her tiny legs spirnted towards the toys on the floor. One by one she picked them up and threw them in the air in excitement. The squealing only got louder and happier with each new toy she threw in the air to play with. While this was happening, the other children - plus Reggie, Greta, and the Wongs - approached the door and beared witness to this sight. Before even more time passed, the children all proceeded to join Lilly in aimlessly playing with the toys, laughing alongside her while also smothering her with affection.

"Those kids are something special." Star said to herself, wiping a tear from her eye. She turned to the Wongs. "I think things with Lilly are going to be just fine." Then she approached Lilly, who was now hugging an as-large-as-her stuffed turtle and sitting on her tiny rear end. "You like your room?" She asked; Lilly babbled & nodded. "See? I knew you would." She continued to laugh for a short time before it slowly began to die down. She looked around and saw her friends enjoying themselves; that's when the bad thoughts returned: she was going to have to leave them & say goodbye, and she still wasn't looking forward to that. "Hey..." So Star knelled down next to her & hugged her. "But you saw how close we are to your house, right? You know what that means?" The little girl rapidly shook her head. "It means you can come visit us any time you want! A-And we can come visit you!" Star turned back to the Wongs. "Right?" The Wongs didn't hesitate; they nodded with proud smiles on their faces. "See?"

As fast as the light faded from Lilly's face, it returned with a vengeance. She never wanted to say goodbye to her friends & Star, and now she didn't have to! Sure, she'd be living away from them, but they were so close they could always visit often. "...Friends?"

Star felt her heart drop a bit. What kind of raising could she have had if she thought her moving to this new home meant they couldn't stay friends? "Lilly, we are _never_ going to stop being friends. You're my little gal pal. And your friends here aren't going to stop loving you just because you're living here now." More tears began to form in Star's eyes. Spending time with the children always made a little extra emotional, especially on days like today. "I know it's going to be hard, but it's not goodbye. It's just "see you later." You're still going to be in our lives, and we're still going to be in yours. But now you have the chance to grow up in your own family, you have the chance to shine the way you deserve to shine, a-and..." And now it was Star's turn to nearly lose herself. Luckily, Lilly was observant enough, so she reached into her pocket & pulled out a bandage, unwrapping it and then putting it right over Star's chest, right where her heart was. Everyone in the room aww'd loudly at the sight. Star, however, remained silent for a brief moment before finally speaking again. "...THANK YOU SWEETIE, I LOVE YOU!" And then bawling her eyes out, overwhelmed by the sheet adorable & loving nature Lilly displayed. The giggling girl embraced Star, and the two of them had themselves a moment.

* * *

After that little moment, the Wongs finished the paperwork to finalize the adoption. In the meantime, the kids - plus Star & Marco - were continuing to play in Lilly's new room. It was safe to say that the tensions from earlier had finally died down; Lilly was now calm enough to enjoy her new room with her friends while she could, while Star had recovered from her outburst & was enjoying some cuddle time with Marco. No, not _that_ kind of "cuddle." They had young kids in the room, for crying out loud. After some more time passed, the adults finally returned to the room.

"It's all done!" Reggie announced happily, with the Wongs giddily applauding. "Lilly, you are now officially a member of the Wong family!" In a drastic change from earlier, Lilly actually applauded & cheered this announcement. The other children followed suit before swarming her with hugs. Once they were done, Star & Marco picked her up and brought her over to the Wongs, who gladly took off of their hands & embraced her just as tightly.

"How exciting!" Chung-Ae exclaimed.

"We never thought this day would come!" Hiroshi shared the sentiment.

"I'm telling you guys, you are going to _adore_ this little ball of light." Star preached, tickling Lilly under her chin and getting her to giggle.

"We already do." The two adoptive parents brought her into an extra tight hug and planted kisses on her cheeks, which caused her to laugh even louder.

"Okay boys and girls!" Star shouted as she turned back to the other children. "Everybody line up so you can say goodbye to Lilly!" The children were all too eager to have their chance to say farewell to their friends. Of course, being the children that they were, they couldn't quite get the "get in line" part down perfectly. They were scattered and too jittery to stay in a line, but it was of little consequence to them, especially Lilly, who was more than eager to give all of them hugs and kisses as they said their goodbyes and departed the room. Of the young children, Miles was the last one to say goodbye to Lilly. His goodbye hug lasted by far the longest. Miles was always the most affectionate child. "Don't worry, sweetie," Star said to the crestfallen boy as he walked out. "This isn't goodbye. It's "see you later." You'll all see her again soon, I just know it."

"Lilly's my friend!" Miles shouted almost in a frantic matter. The poor boy's head was still processing everything.

"Yes she is. And _you're_ her best friend." Marco chimed in, tickling under his chin & getting a laugh from him. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out some lollypops - enough for each child to have one. "Hey, could you do us a favor and give these lollypops to the others? Everybody gets one."

His eyes lit up as he took the lollypops and nodded his head rapidly. "YAY!" He scurried off to find the others, leaving Star & Marco by themselves right outside of Lilly's new bedroom door.

"He's a great kid," Marco said to himself. "How're you doing, swe-" Before turning to his girlfriend and realizing she was on the verge of tears. For Star, this was the equivalent of a mother watching their child go off to college. "Aww, come here." The boy didn't hesitate to bring her in for a big hug. Her soft nature constantly wowed him. "She's going to be okay. You know that, right?"

She sniffled & nodded. "Yeah, of course she is. She's a strong kid. They all are. And I love them _so_ so much..."

"You ever think about adopting one?" His question, while good-natured, clearly caught Star off guard.

"W-D-W-Why would you ask that?"

He shrugged, a slightly smug smile on his face. "Oh I don't know. Maybe it has to do with the fact that whenever you spend time with them, you're happier than you've ever been in your life."

His comment didn't amuse her. "That's not true at all. Any time I spend with _you_, I'm happier than I've ever been in my life." She crossed her arms playfully and smirked, causing him to shrug & relent. "Though the babies _are_ a close second..."

"I rest my case." He planted a kiss on her cheek. "You're so good at giving love...not so much at taking it...and maybe something like a sibling would help? I mean o-only if you wanted it."

She smiled warmly at him and kissed his lips. "Marco...I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it, but...I'm not sure my mom and dad would go for it. I know things between us are different now, and I'm happy about that, but I'd also like to _stay_ on their good side."

"I'd like to think your mom would understand. You're really devoted to the kids."

She looked away slightly and started rubbing her arm. "I don't really talk about this with her."

"You don't?"

"Not really. I'd like to, a-and she'd totally listen to me now, but...I guess I'm just not "there" yet, confidence-wise. And I feel like just asking for something like this out of the blue might not go over so well with them. Maybe in the future things will change, but...for now, I'm actually okay with how things are. I still get to play with my little babies when I go to work."

"They love you _so_ much."

"They're angels, all of them." She turned back to the open bedroom door to see Lilly getting smothered with kisses from Hiroshi & Chung-Ae. "You know what?' She turned again back to Marco. "I have my days where I see nothing but darkness, where I just feel like I'm in a hole that I can't climb out of. But days like today...they show me that it's not all hopeless. There's plenty of light out in this world. Sometimes it just takes a while to find it, and sometimes it doesn't stay for long. But it's there." She started to drift towards the children. She approached them and held her arms out, allowing them to consume her with hugs, especially Miles, who was by far the most affectionate.

In the background, Marco took extra careful note of the affection she was providing Miles - and vise versa - and inside his head, the gears were slowly starting to turn again. A potential idea was formulating...

* * *

**End of Episode 29!**

**So yeah, another breather chapter.  
**

**As of this writing, I have officially moved into a new place. Internet is spotty so I honestly didn't expect to get this out this quickly. I apologize for it being a bit shorter than normal but it's better than artificially extending the word count, right? Don't worry, the plot will pick up again. But no reason to have it all be angsty all the time. That's no fun for me LOL.**

**If you've been following my work - whether it's from the first chapter of When Dimensions Cleave or even just starting now - I want to sincerely thank you for your support. This past year and change have been insane for me and I never expected my work to catch on the way it did. I hope this is only the beginning of what's to come.**

**And as always, please feel free to read & review. I love hearing from you all. I love you dearly. :D**


	30. The More Things Stay The Same

** Star vs The Forces of Evil**

**The Ballad of Earth-Mewni**

**Disclaimer: _Star vs The Forces of Evil_ was created by Daron Nefcy and is owned by Disney. I own no part of _Star vs_.**

* * *

**Episode 30: The More Things Stay The Same**

**Episode Summary: A triple date, an exhibition cornball match, and old demons that just won't go away. All in a day's work for Star and her friends.**

**Original Release Date: October 29, 2020**

* * *

"Patent ductus arteriosus."

As part of her ongoing recovery from the physical/emotional/mental trauma she suffered as a result of her time on Mewni working, It was time for another routine medical check up for Star. These, in conjunction with her therapy sessions with Cassandra Cher, were intended to help her return to a place of good health. Over the course of the last few months, Star had made substantial progress in that endeavor...at least mentally and emotionally. The stresses and traumas that led Star to unexpectedly & aggressively slam her fists into a glass mirror were healing. Day by day, step by step, she was showing gradual improvement, even if there were the occasional hiccups. Her physical recovery, however, has been a bit of a different story.

Her ongoing heart issues were well-documented at this point in time. The cause and solution to such an ailment eluded everyone's grasp for so long. At first speculated to be merely a side-effect of the stress she put herself under and her poor handling of said stress, then speculated to be a side-effect of the healing spell she took wearing off. Throughout the summer and into the fall, it was a constant source of paranoia for Star and her loved ones. They had done as much as they possibly could have to help Star keep her stress levels in check through means of constant pampering, reprieves from political appointments - not all of which she took - and emotional therapy, where the family frequently sat the girl down and did nothing but shower her with affection, hoping to alleviate doubts that she had of them not loving her.

But now, finally, they may have discovered the answer to their problems, as was being explained to them by bother Cassandra Cher and Star's doctor. "It's a heart defect that causes abnormal blood flood between two of the major arteries connected to the heart. See, while you're in the womb, you have a blood vessel that connects these two arteries allowing for easier fetal blood circulation. When you're born, this vessel is supposed to close as part of the normal changes that occur in your circulation. But for some, this vessel doesn't actually close."

"What does that actually mean, though?" Star curiously asked her.

"Well, what your heart does is circulate blood to your lungs to enrich it with oxygen and then circulate it through the rest of your body. One side of your heart handles this process, sending the blood out, while the other side of the heart brings oxygen-starved blood back to begin the process again. What this "hole" in your heart does is mixes the oxygen-rich blood with the oxygen-poor blood. This is **not** supposed to happen. As a result, it puts a strain on your heart and increases blood pressure to the arteries in your lungs."

"Is that why I tend to feel chest pains and shortness of breath when I have those episodes?"

"It makes sense that you would."

"So my heart issues _aren't_ stress related?"

"...It's a bit complicated." Cassandra chimed in. "You understand that when you push your body through physical activity, you pump blood faster & harder so your organs receive the necessary oxygen, yes?" Star nodded rather nervously. "On the contrary I believe your issues with stress have only exacerbated the problem. You worked extremely hard for an extended period of time...both on a physical _and_ emotional level..."

"I don't understand..." Moon chimed in, her and River now clearly worried. "We were never informed of any such issues when Star was born. Sure, Mewni's technological advancements were far behind the pace of Earth's, but we still had magic, and there was never any detection of any abnormalities."

"Our best guess is that the hole in her heart has been so small that any damage had been negligible." The doctor spouted.

"Had?"

"Your struggles on Mewni during that year have been well-documented. Taking that into account with what we know now..." Cassandra hesitated. "Well, your heart works harder when you're under stress. Your heart pumps faster and harder to ensure that all of your organs receive the oxygen-rich blood they need. It's our theory that the added stress carried out consistently for such an extended period of time has resulted in that hole in your heart enlarging, thus forcing it to work even harder when you're at rest."

"Well that's not ominous at all..." Star lamented, putting a hand over her heart. The scares of past were suddenly haunting her mind now. All of the hell, all of the stress she's endured up to now culminating in this frightening revelation that put everything into perspective for her. She was only broken out of her trance by Marco giving her a hug & shoulder rub. "Love you too, sweetheart." She said softly to him, sensing his emotions getting the better of him.

"Is there a cure for this?" Marco piped up. "C-Can we fix her?"

"There are medications you can take to mitigate the damage. There's also a surgical procedure that can easily correct this problem." The doctor explained.

"...Surgical procedure?"

"Yes. You know, we put you on the gurney, a little anesthesia, a simple one-two-three, and you're good to go." That was decidedly _not_ how Star was taking it, evidenced by her eye twitching.

"She's...never had any such procedures done on her." Moon explained.

"You have to understand...Mewni was, at least by Earth's standards, quite prehistoric and barbaric." River further went on. "We had the benefit of magic on our side. You Earthlings worship this fandangle "science" thing."

"You can't worship "facts," sir-"

"D-Don't, let him be." Cassandra put a hand in front of the doctor; now was not the time to get into this kind of argument. It was all part of their process of letting the facts sink in. "We understand this is a lot to take in at the moment. We're going to take this as slow as we can to ensure that Star's health isn't put in jeopardy in any way whatsoever."

"What do we do in the meantime?"

"We're going to schedule an operation for her as soon as possible to start the process of rectifying this problem. After that, we'll start Star on some medication to maintain the progress, so the hole in her heart doesn't return to form or worsen. I also have some anxiety/stress medication I would like for her to take."

"...Oh boy..." Star could feel her body slink over in shame. "I hoped it wouldn't have to come to this..."

"Honey, there's nothing wrong with having to have surgery or take medication." Marco calmly soothed his girlfriend. "Millions of people have to for different medical reasons every single day. You're not alone. And you're no lesser of a person than you were before."

She sighed. "I guess. I just worry about what everyone might say..."

"Everyone? What are you talking about?"

"You don't think people are going to laugh at me or make fun of me for the surgery or for taking medicine because I can't keep my stress under control?"

"Who cares what everyone else thinks? This is what we're doing to help _you_ get better. That's all that matters."

"Yeah, I know that. But be real, Marco. You just _know_ someone's gonna say something. You know, like Janna, or even Pony Head-"

"If anyone says _anything_ derogatory to you about this they'll have to meet my fist with their face."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, but I guess you never know with how some people are in this world..."

* * *

"So you never want to take these two together, you _always_ have to take them separately. Otherwise you risk creating a major chemical imbalance and that could have awful consequences."

Star's concerns that people like Janna or Pony Head would look down on her or laugh for her newest developments were quickly destroyed later that day when Star & Marco met up with them, along with Tom, Jackie, & Chloe at Britta's Tacos. All were incredibly sympathetic to her plight, even if people like Tom & Pony Head didn't quite understand it.

"You...you've been through this before?" Star blinked rapidly while asking Janna the question.

"Well not for _these _medicines specifically but I've been in your position before." Janna explained. "When I was younger I had _both_ a tapeworm _and_ thrush at the same time. It was a nightmare. I needed to take two medicines to clear them out but they were so strong I couldn't take them simultaneously. I had to take at least four hours apart."

"Yikes."

"Hold up, why did I never know about this?" Marco questioned. "You seem to know everything about _me_."

"That's because I'm a master detective. I've perfected the art of sleuthing over the years."

"...And yet you _don't_ want to grow up to become a detective?"

She shrugged, which drew an awkward but hearty laugh from Tom. "Isn't she great?" He awkwardly tried to put an arm around Janna's shoulder. She scoffed briefly but let out a chuckle as well, which Tom immediately picked up on. "...I'm too much again, aren't I?"

"Remember what we said about deep breathing." She gently patted Tom's hand and playfully smirked. "He's _such_ a try-hard."

"Him and Marco." Star sweetly laughed, bringing her boyfriend in for a kiss. "Gotta love 'em."

"So, baby girl, like, when are they gonna, you know, prod you and stuff?" Pony Head asked with her usual brand of class.

"Oh you mean my operation?" Star shrugged meekly. "Sometime in the next week or so, actually."

"Wow, that soon?"

"Well, they did some more tests on me. Turns out my heart problems aren't the result of magic or anything like that. I actually have a birth defect."

"Hold up, you have a _what_?" Janna, like all the others, was left in shock.

"She has a hole in her heart which makes it not work properly. The reason she has those really hard pumps that cause her so much pain? The oxygen starved and oxygen rich blood in her heart mix together and that's a pretty big no-no." Marco casually explained while comforting Star.

"So they're just gonna put me under the knife to correct that problem, and then I'm going on a medication regime to keep it from getting worse _and_ addressing my anxiety slash depression."

"Jeez jiminy crickets, what did that year _do_ to you, kid?" Despite how she often presented herself publicly, Janna did have a soft side for Star and constantly worried for her safety & well-being, more not than ever.

"It, uh...it did a number on her." Tom relented, expressing a similar level of concern.

"Why do you think I've been busting my hump pampering her all summer?" Marco almost hollered before covering his mouth and putting up his hoodie in embarrassment. Marco Diaz, an even bigger try-hard than Tom.

"And _because_ I've been in such rough shape over the summer thanks to...well..." She gestured broadly, signifying "everything." "They're gonna take me a lot slower in the recovery process than a normal patient under these conditions. Most kids that undergo this surgery usually only spend a few days in the hospital, but I could be looking at about a week's worth just to make sure I'm good to go, and then a couple of weeks of mandatory bed rest once I get out." Star loudly sighed. "Great, _more_ bed rest. Just what I wanted."

"Hey, at least it's for a good reason." Jackie spoke up, catching Star's attention and causing her to blush. "You're gonna really get better now. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yeah it is but I didn't want to spend the entire summer just lazing around and doing nothing. I wanted to relax, yeah, but not nearly as much as I have. And now I'm gonna have to put up with even more of it." Her tone was somber and disappointed, but no venom in the voice. "I know you mean well, Marco. I just don't want to develop a reputation as a lazy girl that mooches off of her loved ones. Especially coming off of being royalty." A silent moment of hesitation before she loudly sighed and buried her head in her hands. "Yes, I know I sound ridiculous..."

"You do, sweetie." Marco lovingly caressed her cheek and tickled under her chin. "You're the hardest worker I know. You deserve the break you've had _and_ more."

"Hey, I got an idea!" Janna chimed in, taking a sip of her drink and putting it down roughly. "Since you're going to be laid up for a while anyway, why don't we all plan a day to just go out and live it up! Nothing but fun, excitement, adventure! From sun up to sun down!"

"...Hey, that's an awesome idea! The eight of us just going completely insane and living like it's our last day alive!" Star exclaimed.

"I can drink to that." Chloe raised her glass and took a sip.

"...eight?" Janna questioned.

"Well, yeah. Me & Marco, you & Tom, Jackie & Chloe, and Pony Head & Seahorse."

"Ohhh, him..." Pony Head cut in. "Yeah so like we're not a thing anymore."

"Wait a minute, _anymore_? When were you two _ever_ dating!?" Was Marco's response, and it earned him a nice, leering glare from Pony Head.

"So yeah we, like, aren't talking to each other at the moment. We got into a big fight or whatever."

"You mean _you_ started something and he actually decided to call you out this time instead of keeping his mouth shut."

Another leering glare from the sentient pony. "Yo, B-Fly, your boy's got, like, a smart mouth on him since you two decided to get funky with yo business."

"I like when he gets smarmy." Star crossed her arms & legs and almost smugly looked over at her boyfriend. "What can I say? It turns me on." And it was finished off with a kiss with him. "Alright, it's settled! We're having an awesome day out! Let's make it tomorrow! I don't want to waste _any_ time!"

"Um...Star?" Jackie finally spoke up again. "Tomorrow's Friday." The former princess remained silent for a moment, only communicating in confused blinking. "We're still in _school_."

"Ohhhhh yeah, that's right, I forgot..." Star face-palmed. "I'm not in school anymore..."

"Do you ever want to go back?" Chloe asked her in spite of her lack of knowledge of Star's backstory.

"I _really_ have no idea. Earth school was only ever supposed to be a temporary thing with me. I up and left for a full year because of my royal duties, I didn't think it made sense to just go back without warning, especially since I ended up having to go back to Mewni not even a week later anyway."

"But don't you miss your dear friends?" Janna said in an obviously mocking tone, complete with the puppy dog eyes & quivering lips.

"Of course I do. I love you guys. But my life literally got flip turned upside down not once, not twice, but three different times, totally throwing my school schedule out of whack. Where would I even start? How would it even work? It was easy for you guys to readjust because nothing changed for anyone that was already in school. Me? I'm kind of on the outside looking in." She sat quietly for a brief moment. "Wait why are we talking about school again? Oh right, right, tomorrow's Friday, we can't hang out."

"Right, but there's always Saturday." Janna winked at her.

"Oh yeah, duh! You guys don't go to school on weekends!"

"Which means we'll have the whole day to just go completely nuts & do whatever the heck we want!"

"And we can cap it off Saturday night when we go to the big game at school!" Marco added in, a lightbulb going off in his head. Star quickly followed suit.

"Oh my gosh you're right! That _is_ this Saturday!"

"Whoa, hold up fam, what game?" Pony Head interjected.

"Okay, so you know that new Cornball league that me and Buff Frog and his kids have been trying to get set up?"

"I thought you pulled out of that after your heart scare." Marco questioned.

"I pulled out of the major stuff, like preparations, important meetings, that sort of stuff. And I didn't really pull out so much as I was...benched. But it's okay! Buff Frog's been doing a fantastic job organizing everything! And now we've got an exhibition match set up between Katrina's team and this new rag-tag team of monsters and mewmans so we can sow off the new, simpler rules we've devised for the sport!"

"...It's basically a faster version of football." Marco blankly explained to them, causing Star to raise an eyebrow.

"American Football, right?" She asked him; he nodded. "Why _do_ we do it like that? Like why do _we_ call football soccer but the rest of the world calls it football and then _they _call our football American Football?"

"Because we're Americans and we're stupid like that." Janna interjected.

"...Right...okay but for real you guys are gonna _love_ Cornball! It was a pastime on Mewni, even with its insanely convoluted rules. Now that they've been simplified, it's going to be Earthni's next big thing!"

"OH I can't wait to see this! Saturday's gonna be lit!"

* * *

The next day and change passed by uneventfully. Finally, Saturday, and all of its blissful promise, arrived. At this point in time, Star's heart procedure was but a week away. This was essentially her last chance to live it up with her friends sans Marco before going under the knife. She was going to enjoy every second of it no matter what happened. The two lovebirds exited Marco's house to find the group waiting for them by the mailbox. Star had her rollerblading equipment on. Jackie had with her her skateboard.

"Gotta be honest, kid, I didn't think we'd see you up this early." Janna commented; Star's sleep schedule had been completely wrecked recently due to a variety of factors, such as sleep deprivation, stress, constant overworking, etcetera. Even now, with her political duties significantly scaled back and her essentially on an indefinite staycation, her sleep schedule was still a gigantic mess.

"Oh give me a _little _credit, Janna." Star teased. "You think I'd miss this for anything?"

"We love us a roller blader!" Jackie commented, her and Chloe giving a wink Star's way, causing her to blush.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Wanna head over to the skate park? They've expanded it since it opened."

"Yeah there's, like, carnival games and snacks and stuff so us losers don't gotta just float around and twiddle our thumbs or whatever." Pony Head added, drawing the ire of those like Marco, Tom, & Janna, the non-skaters of the group.

"I'm sorry, who are _you_ calling a loser?" Janna retorted.

"Well what are we still doing here? Let's go!" Marco yelled, to which everyone shouted in agreement. As they readied themselves to go - with Marco riding with Jackie on her skateboard - Star found herself slightly hesitating. The boy momentarily excused himself off to go check on his girlfriend. "Hey, you okay?"

"What? O-Oh, yeah, I-I'm fine." She slightly lied. "I'm fine."

"...You're still not a good liar." He teased, tickling under her chin. "Is it Jackie?" Star shook her head no. "Is it just general anxiety?" She nodded.

"Yeah, you know how it is. I'll be fine. I just gotta keep it together."

The boy sighed, still concerned but ultimately satisfied with her answer. They shared a kiss. "Hey...I love you."

She couldn't help but smile every time he said that to her. "I love you too."

* * *

So the group trekked out to the skate park. As had been foretold, there were indeed various booths set up around the park by the half pipes and ramps, selling food & water. And yet surprisingly there were no out houses. There were groups everywhere - mixed between humans, mewmans, and monsters all seeming to get along fine - and all were having the time of their lives.

"Never realized there were so many skater dudes in Echo Creek." Marco remakred, taking in the view of the wonderous park before him.

"Please, dude, it's like a sub-cult in these parts of town." Jackie explained. "Kinda came together in the last year or so. You really should've been here for it."

"Yeah, well, he wasn't. He was with me...letting me clown him for a year..." _Still_ a sore spot for Star, but she recovered quickly and put on a brave face again. "Ooh, there's food stands everywhere. Peculiar choice for a skate park, but what do I know?"

"Yo, Chloe, let's hit the half-pipe!" Jackie pointed to one of the nearby half-pipes, one that had multiple factions of residents gathered around and enjoying the pipe. Upon briefly examining those in the pipe, Chloe scoffed.

"Amateurs. Let's go school them in what _good_ skating looks like." She said with only a hint of smugness in her voice. It was no secret that Jackie was by far the best skater in Echo Creek, with Chloe - now staying in Echo Creek long term - a close second. They were the queens of the board in town, and now was going to serve as another opportunity for them to showcase why that was. And so with no further hesitation, the two of them dropped into the pipe like it was nobody's business. Within seconds, they were pulling off incredible tricks that would take some professionals years to master, and all with the silky smoothness that one would expect on felt.

"Man, I forget how _good_ she is." Janna remarked of Jackie.

"Yo, like, how is she even doing that?" Pony Head asked, bewildered and amazed at the talent before her. "This gotta be some kind of sorcery or stuff, ain't it?"

"Nope! Just good old-fashioned hard work and talent." Star responded proudly as she kept her eyes fixated on the two active skaters...with her eyes frequently darting towards Jackie specifically. "I'd kill to be that good."

"They've been doing this since they were young." Marco explained, patting her shoulder encouragingly. "You've had, what, a few months? Not counting the few months you had before you had to leave Earth abruptly. You're doing fine."

She meekly shrugged. "True." The quiet watch of Chloe & Jackie continued on, but Star found her gaze drifting off to one of the empty adjacent half-pipes. The temptation to do her own thing was growing, not out of spite but our of curiosity. Could she be comparable in talent to those two? But she also had no interest in stealing the spotlight from them. Aside from a desire to not disrespect her friends, she _hated_ the spotlight in recent months. She didn't want to be noticed, she only wanted to slink away to a corner and let others have the attention. And it was no different here. She slowly started to drift towards the empty half-pipe.

"Star?" And Marco's calls for concern went in one ear and out the other. She dropped into the half-pipe and began to skate. It was safe to say that Star wasn't anywhere near as "polished" as Jackie or Chloe. Her skills at performing established & traditional tricks were lacking in comparison. But she more than made up for it with her intuition and on-the-fly thinking. For instance, one-handed ramp lips were commonplace amongst skaters. But two-handed ramp lips were a different story, and one could argue that they were even harder to pull off. But Star was determined. She would not be deterred.

She held her two-handed lip for several seconds, her body quivering with each passing moment as she essentially willed her body to make it happen. Then, with a flick of her body, she flipped backwards until her feet were up against the wall of the pipe, and she pushed off aggressively, landing on the curved surface and skating - backwards - towards the middle. It was a feat that, in her mind, seemed rather pedestrian. She still wasn't quite to thinking that highly of her own efforts. But over by the other pipe, something was happening.

Jackie & Chloe had wrapped up their own little performance, while everyone else was applauding them, when they took notice of Star's skills in the other pipe. "Whoa, dude, did you see that?" Jackie exclaimed, directing the group's attention over to where Star was. Star, for her part, was about to conclude her brief run of skating. She skating up and out of the ramp and landed on one of the nearby rails...and began grinding it on one foot. That's right: one foot. Grinding a rail is already a challenge and a half. Try doing it on one foot. Not easy in the slightest. And yet Star made it seem like second-nature as she leaped off the rail, did a summersault in the air, and landed on the ground with almost no trouble whatsoever. She thought that was the end of that: a nice, short run just to get her nerves down.

And then the cheering started.

Star whipped her body around and saw that her friends - plus a small group that congregated from the other pipe - were standing there and loudly applauding her. She immediately tried to look away, almost as if she was ashamed of the attention and adoration. But slowly, she warmed up to it and responded by awkwardly bowing in appreciation. "That...was so dang cool, girl!" Jackie shouted, her, Chloe, Marco, Janna, and Tom running up to Star and congregating around her.

"T-Thanks." Star uncomfortably chuckled. "I didn't want to take any of the attention away from you guys, though. I just wanted to be alone."

"You kidding? I wish you had said you wanted to shred with us!"

"Oh no no no, it's..." Star's face began to turn a dark shade of red. Truth be told, she _did_ want to skate with Jackie & Chloe, though particularlly Jackie. "I'm not as skilled as you guys. I'm good at making things up and adapting, but you girls are pros compared to me. I'd totally hold you back."

"Says the one who just rail-grinded on one foot." Chloe retorted back. It was obvious they were impressed were her.

"And those flips, Star. Don't you dare stand there and tell us you don't have talent."

Star's blush _and_ smile grew. "Well, I've had a good tutor." She lightly threw an awkward punch at Jackie's arm, chuckling. "Thanks." She started slowly walking towards the other half pipe. "Mind if I take the lead on this?" Jackie & Chloe both nodded before the three of them jumped into the half-pipe.

"Go shred like nobody's business, girl!" Pony Head encouraged her.

"She looks so comfortable." Tom said almost in awe.

"Doesn't surprise me." Janna said back. "She's a free spirit. You can't restrain her."

Indeed, Star was on a roll in the pipe, alongside Jackie & Chloe. The three of them were performing tricks like it was nobody's business. Many of the tricks were solo works, but about midway through the run, they started performing combos together, playing off of each other's skates as well as the pipe. Jackie & Star in particular performed tricks together, often seeing them interlocked at the hands, which made it extra difficult for Star to properly concentrate. Similar issues popped up when Star was intertwined with Chloe, but it was far more powerful when she was with Jackie.

Eventually they came up for their final tricks together. Flips & twists with massive air and velocity only served to wow the crowd below. The three finally landed safely on the ground, interlocked with each other, and were met with raucus applause from everyone around them. "That was _sooo_ sick!" Jackie exclaimed, embracing both Chloe & Star. "You two kicked butt back there!"

"Oh please, girl, not as much butt as _you_ kicked!" Star complimented back. "And _you_, Chloe, where did you learn half those tricks!?"

"I have my ways..." Chloe slyly said with a wink.

"You know, Star, if you ever wanted to go pro, us three would totally make a great team!" Jackie met her for another hug, looking deeply into her eyes and smiling. "Seriously, you'd be amazing."

"D'aww, thanks." Star blushed again, staring back deeply into Jackie's eyes. You wouldn't want to be inside Star's head at this very moment in time. "_Wow you're so hot_..." She started to say under her breath before catching herself. "I-I mean, that sounds awesome, b-but I think I'm better off with skating just being a hobby. You two, though, you were _made_ to go pro."

"I don't know what that means, but like, you girls were so dope out there!" Pony Head exclaimed, her, Marco, Tom, and Janna joining them for a hug.

"That was _so_ cool!" Tom agreed.

"You sure you're not the one giving _them_ lessons?" Janna sarcastically asked with a wink.

"You guys..." Star took note of Janna holding a corndog. "Oh, by the way, how's the food here? Any good?"

Janna looked at her own corndog, then at Star. Shs responded with a silent shake of the head, causing Star to sulk. "But you know what? It doesn't matter. We can grab something at the movies."

"Oh we're going to the movies next? Sounds good to me! What are we going to see?"

* * *

So the group traversed to the movie theater, grabbed their tickets - yes, apparently the theater did not discriminate against Pony Head for being a sentient horsey head - and took their seats. The movie was about to start. _Divinity of the Heart_, a romance film, and a recent one at that. Why did they pick a romance film? Simply because everything else had been remarkably sold out.

"Seriously?" Pony Head loudly complained. "They, like, had nothing else open or whatever?"

"I'm just as annoyed as you are. I tried everything but every other movie here is sold out right now, and the next closest theater is like an half hour away." Janna explained. There was no way we were gonna be able to get there, see a full-length movie, and then make it back to the school in time for the game."

"Uh-huh. You and your excuses." Pony Head was not impressed; Janna wasn't in the mood to answer back. They let the matter die as the film started up.

_Divinity of the Heart_ centered around a typical man and woman who were childhood friends and then grew up having romantic feelings for each other, while the film told the story of them going through the motions of realizing these feelings and wanting to pursue them. Not lost on the group was that it played out in a manner eerily similar to the way Star & Marco's relationship played out, minus the part about them being childhood friends.

"_I'm sorry, Derek, but I have to leave."_

_"But why, Margaret?"_

_"I just have to. I don't know if I'll ever be able to return."_

_"And you choose **now** to say this to me!?"_

_"What was I supposed to do? I couldn't do that to Amy."_

It was the part of the movie where the main couple found themselves separated due to extenuating circumstances right as she had to depart and move away. Internally, Star was quickly picking up on the similarities between their relationship and her relationship with Marco. "You're going to regret doing this..." She whispered just loudly enough for Marco, sitting next to her, to hear.

The movie progressed, with the main character Derek leaving his home state behind to pursue his impending love Margaret across the country. Unfortunately, when he reunited with her, she was less than enthused to see him suddenly back in her life.

"_You can't do this, Derek! You can't just show up at my front door and act like everything's still the same. A lot has changed for me! I thought you would understand that."_

_"Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I can't still be around you, does it?"_

_"Ugh, you don't appreciate **anything** I do for you, do you!?"_

And as the movie wore on, Star found herself getting visibly infuriated with what she was watching. "You know, maybe if you understood just what he _gave up_ in order to be with you, your tone wouldn't be nearly as nasty & vomit-inducing!" She spoke just a little bit louder this time. Every time her mouth opened, Marco looked over in concern for her well-being. He knew just how much to heart she took everything that happened between them. How much she blamed herself for their friendship becoming strained for as long as it was and for Marco almost giving up on her, how much she screwed up by not committing herself to Tom or acknowledging his improvements as a person, how much she believed Marco resented her for misleading him about the consequences of destroying magic - i.e. the possibility of them never seeing each other again. She always thought she was past this...until the next time her mind decided to betray her.

The movie reached its pivital climax, with the two leads finding themselves alone in a room and finally getting a chance to talk about their feelings for real.

"_I've been in love with you since the day I met you. And these feelings are just getting stronger a-and they won't go away. And I know they're getting in the way."_

Star grimmaced; those words were eerily similar to the ones Marco said to her in the pig goat barn on that fateful day.

"_In the way? Wait, Derek, what makes you think it has to be bad?"_ This line was spoken with a chuckle, and it was the chuckle that really set Star off.

"What makes him thi-is this bitch for real?" Yup...she was about to snap, and snap _hard_. She stood up from her seat, glaring & seething at the movie screen. "Hey, idiot! Maybe the reason he thinks it's bad is because **_you've_** done everything you can to make him feel that way!" She slowly started to inch closer towards the screen.

"Yo, B-Fly, you're making a scene, girl." Pony Head loudly whispered. But Star was undettered.

"You made him work for you as your secretary while you spent all your time prissing it up with your boy you! And not once did you think about how it made _him_ feel! You had the **_nerve _**to call him selfish when he gave up _**everything**_ for a shot with you! You never even gave a thought to how much he hurt because of you! You should be on your damn knees _**BEGGING**_ for him to take you back! But you're not! Because you're a waste of oxygen!" The tears were forming in her eyes. It was going to be a bad one. "You screwed over Thomas because of your own stupidity and now you have the gall to think there won't be a problem! The only reason Marco isn't telling you to go to hell is because he's too much of a cowardly **_PISSANT_** that won't stand up for what he rightfully deserves! And you're just going to take it as a sign that you've done nothing wrong because you're a self-serving, narcassistic son of a-"

"**STAR!" **Marco screamed, having approached her from behind. Once Star mistakenly uttered Marco's name, everyone knew that this was the start of another Star meltdown.

"_**WHAT**__!?" _She screamed, turning herself around to reveal that she was an emotional wreck. Her eyes were watery & red, her hair was messy, and her breathing was heavy & shallow. Her eyes darted around the movie theater, where she realized that everyone was looking at her, with mixed looks of confusion and concern for her well being. Marco himself looked like he was speechless. He had seen Star Butterfly meltdowns before. He had seen her at her lowest. Yet every time they came around, she seemed to dig just a little bit lower. One could speculate that that's what comes with hating yourself as much as she does. In a huff, Star dashed for the exit, leaving the theater entirely, only barely holding in sobs.

The boy silently looked over at his group of friends. All of them quietly urged him to follow her; they all intended to follow behind soon after, but only after allowing them a moment together. So Marco took it on himself to chase after Star. He exited the theater just as quickly. "Star!?" He called out for her...only to find that she was sitting by a nearby wall, huddled in a upward fetal position & crying. "Star?" He slowly approached her, taking a seat next to her and bringing her in for a hug. The cries only got louder. "Shhhh shh it's okay baby, it's okay..."

"No it's not." She sputtered out after some crying hiccups. "I've made such a fool out of myself."

"No you didn't." No matter what the circumstances were, no matter what the hardships, he refused to give her a chance to take blame for anything, even if it was completely justified.

"Watching that movie...i-it was like looking into a mirror." She looked up at him through her blurry, watery eyes. "Don't you understand? Everything that happened in that movie between those two...that was _our_ relationship."

Deep down, he knew she was right. Yet he still decided he should play dumb. "What?"

"T-That woman...the one who kept pushing the man away despite him giving up _so_ much to be with her...that was me! That was me, Marco! That was _us_! Don't act like you don't see it!" She growled angrily and rather aggressively rested her head against the wall. "What is _wrong_ with me? I thought I was over this!" She turned her to look away from him; she couldn't dare face him in her current state. Once again she was near inconsolible. Lucky for her, Marco was stubborn & refused to leave. He hugged her tighter and started planting kisses on her face.

"Star...I love you _so_ much."

Although she was _delighted_ that he was still loving her like this, she was also quite befuddled. "I love you too. But I don't get it...aren't you sick of this? Me not being able to control myself? How could you not be?"

"Because you're trying so hard to fight it. I know you're not doing this on purpose. _Everyone_ knows you're not doing this on purpose."

"Marco you _have_ to stop making excuses for me-"

"What you call excuses _I_ call facts." He responded rather sternly. "You were thrust into an unwinnable situation. You had to fight in a war for your kingdom, you fought a war for equality. You're fifteen years old, you had no business shouldering all of that responsibility!"

"Why are you still harping on this "war" thing? I'm not the only one that took part in it, I'm just the only one that was too weak to not come out of it like I was..." Her voice trailed off. All of a sudden, the memories of Marco's tales over his uncle's tragic suicide came flooding back in. And then something went off in her head. "Marco...what did you uncle do for a living?"

Marco raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Your uncle? You know, the one that...the one that took his life. You never told me what he did for a living."

And just as quickly, the lightbulb went off in his head as well. He knew exactly where this was going, and at last, things started to make sense. He reembraced her, even tighter than before, and kissed her gently on the lips, mentally preparing his speech. "...He was a soldier."

"...A soldier?"

"Y-Yeah. See, o-on Mewni you had "knights." We on Earth had "soldiers." We have wars here in our world a-and he enlisted in the army because he wanted to help people and protect our country. H-He wasn't doing well in school and he thought it was his only option. So he left everything behind to go fight."

"...I see." It wasn't _quite_ the same as Star's situation, but there was no denying the parrallels & similarities. "How long was he a part of it?"

Marco hesitated briefly before speaking again. "...About five years?"

"Straight?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. He came home right around the time I was born. I was too young to understand what was going on, but after he had passed, my parents...they started to talk to me about it, guiding me through what happened, w-what they _thought_ happened with him. And then I did my own research...and the more I learned, the more...the more frightening it became..."

"Marco, why does your country go to war?" She asked him, a quiver in her voice.

"It's...it's really complicated. I'll explain it to you later if you want, but...war is...war's a pretty hot button topic in this country. It has been for as long as I can remember. You'd be surprised to hear how many people actually salivate at the prospect of going to war. You know, invading other countries, putting our troops' lives on the line...'

"I was always proud to serve my kingdom and do whatever I had to do to protect my people. But I can't say I was "excited" to do any invastions or whatever. S-Sure, I liked to fight monsters when they attacked us and all, but...not really invasions. Especially after I learned the truth about the Mewnipendence Day invasion..." She got so lost in her train of thought that she didn't notice at first Marco's head resting against her shoulder. The crestfallen boy soon found himself being smothered in kisses from his girlfriend. "It's okay, sweetheart."

"See, you gotta understand...our people don't really treat their soldiers right." Marco continued. "We send them off into unperiled dangers, we box them into corners where joining the army is the only way they'll ever make something of themselves...and then when they return from their stint overseas, we basically just cast them off like it's nothing. That's the end of that. We don't treat their wounds. Their physical ailments, their mental & emotional trauma...we just toss them to the side like it's nothing. These people risk their lives to fight for our country - sometimes for years on end - and then we leave them with who knows how much damage that they have to deal with? Some of them are just never the same again."

Star's face fell again. "...You mean like your uncle."

He solmenly nodded. "Yeah."

"...And that's why you insist on calling me a hero." The hero "monkier" always confounded Star and their loved ones. It always seemed like Marco had not learned his lesson from the Blood Moon incident. In reality, his motivations were far more noble, and far more depressing. And the more time had passed, the more his loved ones began to understand where he was coming from. And now Star herself was starting to understand it. "Even though I don't feel like a hero." She was once again met with a massive embrace & kisses from the boy.

"You wanna know why I stuck around through all of the bullcrap? Because a lot of what was happening with your kingdom...it reminded me of my uncle. I've seen it happen before, and I guess I was just afraid..."

"Afraid of what?"

"He didn't have anyone he could lean on. Sure he had my parents but...bless them, they tried, but it just...didn't work. And I didn't want that to happen with you. I wanted to be the shoulder you could always lean on for support...even when you were being stubborn & refused."

"Even though I completely sabotaged our friendship?"

"I don't blame you for that."

"But _**I**_ do."

"You _still_ won't forgive yourself for it? Even though we're okay?"

She shook her head rapidly. "I _want_ to forgive myself. I _want_ to love myself the way you all love me. I just _don't_. And that movie, it just...it brought back too much pain. I saw myself in that woman's shoes."

"I forget just how much you sometimes hate how forgiving I am about all this."

"It's not a bad thing. Really. I'm glad you're not angry, I...I just wish I didn't feel like I deserved your anger or resentment."

"You still think you need to make amends to me and to our friends, don't you?" She nodded rather embarrasingly. "Well...look on the bright side: now you have all the time in the world to do what you _think_ you have to do."

She looked up at him with her glazed, unhappy eyes. "Do I?"

"...What do you mean?"

"Marco..." She put a hand over her chest. "What if something goes wrong? What if when I go under the knife something goes catastrophically wrong and...and I don't make it? I won't have the chance to make things right with anyone."

Again, he hugged her. "Is that what this is about? Are you afraid of your impending heart surgery?" She nodded, her head buried in his arms. "Sweetie, we're not going to let anything happen to you. You're going to go in, have your surgery done, and you'll come out good as new."

"And then I'll be able to keep fixing my mistakes."

He sighed. She was such a try-hard, and he loved her for that. "You don't _have_ any mistakes you have to fix anymore. But if it'll really make you feel better...sure, I guess. Whatever you feel like you need to do."

Now it was Star's turn to sigh as the two of them stood up and hugged again. She always felt an unnecessary burden on her every time she had a set back like this. She should be over this by now, she thought. Stop whining, others had it worse, she thought. But it was those kinds of attitudes that corrupted her and her family for years upon years when the monarchy was still around. Always with the brave front, no matter what they went through. Now that it was over, it was a long, audurous slog to find some semblance of emotional normalcy. But they had amazing support networks around them to help them get through it, even with the uncertainty that laid before them.

"Thank you, Marco." She said quietly as she kissed him passionately. "I'm...I'm sorry I'm such a screw-up."

He stroked her hair lightly. "You're not a screw-up. You're just...screwed up. We all are."

"_**STAR**_!" Came a voice over in the distance. They both turned to see it was their friends, led by Tom, rapidly approaching them. "You okay?"

After a slight hesitation, Star raced over to Tom & opened her arms up for a big hug. The demon, despite his surprise, returned the favor. "Y-Yeah...I'm okay. That movie was..."

"Oh yeah, it was way awful, girl." Pony Head intruded. "The two leads, they had, like, no chemistry together."

"It's not that they had no chemistry. They're just terrible actors." Janna argued. "It's pretty much what you come to expect in any modern day "romance" film."

"Well next time I come to the theater I know which movie not to go see." Star said with a laugh.

"You sure you're alright?" Jackie asked. Star nodded rapidly.

"Yeah, I will be. But we should get going: the cornball game starts in an hour and we gotta get back to the school."

"Sounds good to me!" Marco shouted in triumph as he dashed off in the direction of Echo Creek Academy, with everyone else following behind.

* * *

They arrived at the school with enough time to spare. People around town were already filing into the school yard for the big game. At the entrance to the field stood Marco & Star's family folks, anxiously awaiting their arrival. "You kids made it!" Rafael bellowed happily, with little Mariposa in his hands cheering as well.

"We were starting to think you weren't going to show up." Angie followed up.

"And miss the culmination of all of Star's hard work? Please!" Marco joked, nudging Star's arm. The girl responded by rubbing said arm in a clear sign of discomfort.

"Well, I really did do all that much. Buff Frog took over and he did a lot better with this set up than I ever could."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Can't you ever just take a compliment?"

"If I did would I be in therapy?" She retorted; a logical retort it was.

"Still, sweetie, we're so proud of you and what you started." Eclipsa joined in the universal praising of Star, with Moon & River responding in kind by picking up their daughter & embracing her off the ground.

"T-Thanks, everyone." She said under struggles to breathe. Eventually Moon & River put her back down on the ground.

"We should go find our seats." Eclipsa led the group - minus Moon & Star - into the park. Moon attempted to follow behind, but was stopped when she realized Star was still tugging on her dress.

"...Sweetheart, are you alright?" Her concerned mother asked her, taking note of the somber, crestfallen expression on Star's face. Star responded in kind by lunging at her and hugging her tightly. Despite being taken by surprise by the gesture, Moon didn't hestiate to reciprocate. Any opportunity she had now to show her daughter much-needed affection was a welcomed addition. "What's this for?"

"...Just to say I love you." Star responded back, the sadness croaking through her tone. "I haven't said that enough."

Moon took a deep breath and tightened her embrace. "You're such a good girl. I wish you could understand just how proud I am of you." She heard a sniffle come from Star buried in her dress. The girl looked up with a half-baked smile.

"I wish I could understand it too." Moon stroked her daughter's face, wiping a tear away from her eye.

"One day you will, I'm certain of that." And then she gently kissed Star's forehead. "Come, let's find the others." She took her head and carefully led her into the park, where they headed right towards the rest of the group to take their seats. It was time for a gold old-fashioned football, erm, cornball game. There was sure to be lots of drama and excitement tonight.

Unfortunately for them, it was not going to come from the game...

* * *

**End of Episode 30!**

**Phew! Longest chapter I've written in a while! Very proud of it. If you've noticed, chronologically, we're inching close to where "Beautiful Christmas" starts. At the moment, we're at the very end of September, so that means there's two months in-universe to go before we get there. I still haven't decided how I'm going to format everything post-BC, whether I bookmark it in this story or just start a fresh book in the same universe. But rest assured, I aim to continue. :D  
**

**Also, as of this posting, it's almost election day in the U.S., so please make sure you do your duty & vote. May the universe bless you with good fortune.**

**And as always, please read & review! :D**


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